A Hero Reborn
by Ume Shoryu
Summary: AU. Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into himself. After the sealing, he would die and take the Kyuubi with him. The fox, desperate to stay alive, did the only thing he could. Watch as the Yondaime is reborn as Uzumaki Naruto. NaruHina, other pairings undecided
1. Prologue

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

"**Text"** – Kyuubi speaking

'_**Text'**_ – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Prologue: The Unexpected Outcome**

"Can you go through your plan again, Arashi?" Sarutobi, also known as the Sandaime Hokage, asked his successor, Arashi, the current hokage.

"This is the last time I'm repeating it, Sarutobi." The Yondaime replied. The old man kept on asking this question, as if he could not believe what he was hearing. "While our ninja engage the Kyuubi, I will perform _that_ jutsu and seal the fox in myself. My chakra system would not be able to handle the sudden presence of demonic chakra. Because of that, I will die, and the Kyuubi will die with me. Even by the slightest chance that I survive, the Shinigami will take my soul as payment for sealing the fox. I will die no matter what, and I'm taking the Kyuubi with me."

"Why not let me perform the jutsu then? You have a long life ahead of you, whereas I am an old man. I care for Konoha just as much as you do, and I'm willing to die to protect the village I love."

"I can't ask you to do that, Sarutobi. As current hokage, it is my responsibility to protect and serve Konoha. I have to do this myself if I am to succeed at my job." Arashi said. The two of them have had this conversation before, back then when Kyuubi was on his way to Konoha. The Yondaime had to prepare a plan to protect Konoha from the wrath of the Kyuubi, even at the cost of his own life.

"Very well then, I guess I won't be able to talk you out of it. I hope you know what you're doing. The fate of the entire village rests in you."

Just then, a Jounin showed up to inform the hokages of the current situation. Judging by the look of his face, both hokages already knew what he was going to report, and it wasn't good news.

"Sandaime-sama, Hokage-sama, the Kyuubi has arrived at the north gate. All of our available Anbu, Jounin, and Chuunin are currently engaging it in combat. There have been some casualties." The jounin was practically shaking at his feet. He had to witness the battle and how the fox completely overwhelmed all of the leaf-nin present. He saw as the demon stomped, crushed, and even eaten his fellow ninja. The battleground was full of dead corpses; he had trouble counting the number of ninja the Kyuubi had slaughtered. Not that he could anyway, the Kyuubi would kill everyone there before he can even finish counting.

"Continue stalling the Kyuubi. I will be on my way to finish this." The Yondaime replied.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." There was a sound of fear in the jounin's voice, as if he could not bring himself back to the battleground. He complied with the order anyway; he had faith in the Yondaime.

"I'm coming with you, Arashi. I can stall the Kyuubi for you. And in case something goes wrong, I will be there to help."

"Alright. Thanks, Sarutobi." Both hokages knew just how important this matter was. If they failed, there would no longer be a village to be hokage of. That is, if they were even alive if they failed. As the conversation finished, they went outside, ready to engage the fox and protect Konoha at all costs.

* * *

(At the battleground)

The Kyuubi was having his way with the leaf nin. He withstood all of the attacks the ninja were throwing at him. He roared as he found a small group of ninja close together and swung one of his tails at the area. The force of the attack was too much, and the group was thrown away, making contact with various trees. Just then, the jounin from before arrived and yelled out the orders of the Yondaime.

"Yondaime Hokage-sama is on his way. We need to stall the Kyuubi until he arrives." This brought hope to all of the Konoha ninja. With renewed hope, they began to get up and tried their best to hold off the nine tailed fox.

'_**Fools! They think they can defeat me, the great Kyuubi no Kitsune?'**_ The Kyuubi thought. He was far stronger than all of the ninja currently present. When he heard what one of them said, it sparked his curiosity. _**'I'd like to see what this Yondaime can do to me. Then they'll see that whatever they do is worthless against me!'**_ His train of thought stopped when he saw a large toad arrive, with a blond man and an old man on the toad's head.

"Yondaime-sama!" Various shouts were heard from the leaf ninja. The arrival of their hokage was enough to bring out the famous Konoha fighting spirit among them. They stood up and continued to attack the Kyuubi, hoping that they distracted it enough for the Yondaime to defeat it.

'_**So this is the Yondaime. I expected better. No matter, I will kill him in front of all his followers, and they will realize that their attempts are useless!'**_ The Kyuubi then roared and charged at the toad currently carrying the two hokages.

Seeing the nine tailed fox coming, the Yondaime began performing the seals for the Shiki fuuin. The Kyuubi, realizing what he was going to do, growled viciously and started charging even faster towards the Yondaime. But it was too late. The Yondaime had already performed the jutsu.

An image of the Shinigami appeared behind the blond hokage. It then did what it was summoned to do; it sealed the Kyuubi away into the Yondaime.

The Kyuubi knew what was happening. If he did not stop this or at least prevent enough of it, he would die. Realizing that the Yondaime's chakra system wasn't going to hold out, he began to quickly think of a solution before his demise. He then came to the conclusion that an infant's chakra system would not be developed enough, and it would accept the sudden presence of demonic chakra. The Kyuubi, out of options and almost out of time, began to perform the only thing that would save his life.

'_**I will not die!'**_

Seeing the Kyuubi disappear, Sarutobi thought the jutsu was a success. However, when he looked to his left, he saw the body of a yellow-haired baby instead of the dead body of the Yondaime. Realizing that something had gone wrong, he began to panic, until he noticed the resemblance of the infant to the Yondaime. Immediately, he knew what had happened.

"Arashi?"

* * *

Hello everyone. This is my first story, although I have been frequenting this website for quite some time now. I have seen stories that involved the Yondaime somehow being alive after the attack, but I have not seen a story that had a take like this. What do you think of this idea?

The main pairing will be NaruHina. I'm open to suggestions on other pairings, so if you want to see two people together, just tell me.

I'll leave you all with a preview of the next chapter. Thanks for reading!

_Chapter Preview_

"_We should keep his identity a seret, even from the villagers. Arashi had a lot of enemies, and it would be easy to kill him seeing as he is only a baby right now." Sarutobi told the council._

"_What should we name him then?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked._

"_From now on, he shall be called Uzumaki Naruto."_


	2. Getting Back on Track

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

"**Text"** – Kyuubi speaking; Gamabunta speaking

'_**Text'**_ – Kyuubi thinking; Gamabunta thinking

* * *

**Chapter One: Getting Back on Track**

"Arashi?"

"**Sarutobi, what happened to Arashi?"** Gamabunta asked the old man. He was worried for his summoner. After all, why would the Third worry, he knew what Yondaime's plan was.

"It seems that he has turned into an infant. This was unexpected." The Sandaime replied. He then picked up the child in his arms.

"**WHAT!? This was never part of the plan! What the hell happened!?"** The toad boss was shocked. He did not expect this. He knew full well that the Fourth was going to give his life to save the village and its people. How could something like this have happened?

Sarutobi tried to think. How could this happen? What factors were involved?

'Arashi summoned the Shinigami to seal the Kyuubi in himself. Only after the sealing did the Fourth turn into a baby.' He had his suspicions, but he was fairly sure that the fox was responsible. 'But why would Kyuubi turn him into this? What were his reasons?'

"I'm not sure what happened myself. Perhaps the Kyuubi had something to do with this."

"**If the damn fox did this, then something has to be up. After all, why turn the one who would kill him into a child, when he would die soon anyway?"** When Gamabunta said that, the Third looked at the child he was carrying. Only then did he see the seal that was still perfectly intact on what he was carrying. When he saw this, he realized the fox's motives. His worst fears were realized. The nine tails was still alive, although it was sealed.

"Kyuubi is alive. He turned Arashi into a baby because only a child's chakra system would accept the sudden presence of demonic chakra. This means that Kyuubi is now sealed into Arashi." The Third told Gamabunta, not knowing how the toad would react.

Gamabunta was speechless. He definitely didn't expect this. **"I see. If the fox is sealed into Arashi, we should make sure that it doesn't get free. If it is released, then it will be the end of Konoha."** Sarutobi agreed with the toad. He had to think of something to ensure that Kyuubi would remain sealed. After all, the Fourth had many enemies. All of them would love to kill him seeing as he was currently a defenseless child. And if he was killed, then the fox would break free.

"**Summon the council. This is a grave matter, and it should be kept from the village. If any of Arashi's enemies found out about his current state, they would not hesitate to kill him."** The Third thought this was a good idea. He would do this as soon as he returned to Konoha.

"I'll do that as soon as possible. Let's go back to the village." The toad then turned back and leaped toward Konoha.

Nearby, a pale figure was listening in on their conversation. Satisfied with what he gathered from their little talk, the figure left, away from Konoha.

* * *

(Konoha, council chamber)

"Why have you summoned the council here, Sarutobi?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked the old man. The meeting was unscheduled; therefore the reason behind the summoning had to be important.

"Now isn't the time for a meeting. The Kyuubi just attacked our village!" Akimichi Chouza spoke his thoughts. The other members of the council seemed to agree, they thought it wasn't the best time for a meeting as well.

"Who is that baby you're carrying anyway?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked the Third. He was curious as to why he would bring a child into a council meeting.

"One question at a time. First, I summoned all of you here because the matter at hand is very important." The look in the old man's face was enough to tell everyone that he was serious. "Second, this child is the Yondaime."

Everyone in the room was shocked. This baby is the Yondaime? What the hell happened out there while he was fighting the nine tails?

"How could this be the Yondaime? He isn't a child! Besides, all of us knew about his plan to defeat Kyuubi. We know that he was going to die to protect Konoha! You were with him when you went outside to confront the fox, you saw what happened!" Uchiha Fugaku voiced his thoughts to the whole council. All of them were asking the same question. If this was Arashi, then what could have happened out there that would result to this?

"What happened was that when Arashi sealed the Kyuubi into himself, the fox turned him into what you see now. The fox turned him into this because a child's chakra system, unlike an adult's, would accept its demonic chakra. If he hadn't turned him into a child, both of them would have died." Sarutobi told the council what happened. He didn't know how they would react to this news.

"Does that mean that Kyuubi is still alive" Nara Shikaku asked the Sandaime. If the Kyuubi was still alive, then Konoha was in danger.

"Yes, Kyuubi is alive. Although, he is sealed into Arashi, so we won't have to worry about the fox for now." His answer seemed to calm the council down. He could see the relief in everyone's face.

"Anyway, now that the situation is under control, we can move to other matters. Seeing as our current hokage is unable to hold position, we need a new hokage."

"Why don't you hold office? Looking for a new hokage would take time." Nara Shikaku suggested. He thought it was a good idea. Everyone else just thought that it was too troublesome for him to go find a new leader.

"I suppose that would do. I'll look for a replacement. For the meantime, I will act as hokage once more." Sarutobi didn't really want the position. After all, he already experienced the pain of paperwork when he was hokage. He certainly didn't want to do that again. But this was the best solution.

"Wait, what about Arashi? What will we do about him?" Hiashi spoke up. Arashi was his good friend; he wanted to know what would happen to him.

"We should keep his identity a secret, even from the villagers. Arashi had a lot of enemies, and it would be easy to kill him seeing as he is only a baby right now. Only jounin and anbu should know about this. After all, we need to protect him." Sarutobi told the council.

"What should we name him then?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked.

"From now on, he shall be called Uzumaki Naruto." Nobody seemed to argue with this, so the Third assumed that there was no problem. "Since there doesn't seem to be any problems or questions about this, I assume that everything is in order. You are free to go."

One by one, the council members left, taking in everything from the meeting.

* * *

(Time skip, 4 years after the Kyuubi attack)

Naruto was walking towards the hokage's office. He was being kept and taken care of by the Third Hokage. Sarutobi wasn't taking any chances; he wanted to take care of Arashi himself. He told Naruto everything that happened after the attack. Needless to say, he was shocked. At least he was still alive. Also, when the Third asked him where he was going to stay, Naruto said that he wanted to stay in the hokage tower. When he was asked why, he said that it reminds him of who he is. Besides, he practically lived in that office while he was hokage. There was no reason for him to not be able to stay there. Naruto was near his destination, when he remembered a conversation he had with a certain someone. He had to tell the old man about that conversation, it held very important information that would be vital to Konoha.

_(Flashback)_

_Naruto was training. After he sealed Kyuubi into himself, his chakra control went straight to hell. He was trying to work on that a bit too hard and a bit too soon. After a few hours of tree climbing, his world went black and he passed out on the training field. When he opened his eyes, he saw himself next to a cage with a piece of paper with the word 'seal' stuck on it. Inside the cage however, was the greatest threat to Konoha that ever lived. The Kyuubi no Kitsune._

"_**Hello, Yondaime." **__The tone of the fox surprised Arashi. He expected Kyuubi to be angry at him for sealing him away and almost killing him._

"_Why did you bring me here Kyuubi?"_

"_**I wanted to talk to you, about that day I attacked Konoha."**__ This surprised the ex-hokage even more. Why would the fox want to talk about that? He decided that he was going to listen to it. After all, he was curious as to why he attacked in the first place. He hoped he could ask the fox about that._

"_Alright, I guess I'll start. Why did you attack Konoha?" The Kyuubi expected him to ask this question right off the bat. He was going to tell him the truth._

"_**You see, I had a family. We were living peacefully in the woods. I left to get some food for me and my family. When I came back, I saw a man drenched in blood. He was wearing a leaf hitai-ate. Sniffing around, I realized that he was drenched in the blood of my kit. The man killed my family. I was about to kill that man, but he sensed me coming and vanished away. I was angry, I wanted revenge. I attacked Konoha. When you tried to seal me into yourself, I realized that we would both die. So I did the only thing I could do to save my life, our lives. I turned you into what you are now. I'm sorry."**_

_At first, Arashi didn't want to believe him. But after looking into the fox's eyes, he could see pain, sorrow, and anger. The pain in losing loved ones, the sorrow of being alone, and anger at not being able to kill the man responsible for the death of his family. He then realized that the fox was telling the truth._

"_Looking into your eyes, I see that you're telling the truth. I'm sorry for the loss of your family. If it's not too much, I'd like to help you kill that man. After all, he was the reason for the whole attack." The Kyuubi was surprised at this offer. He certainly didn't expect this at all._

"_**Thank you."**__ A tear could be seen coming from his eye. He was happy that he would eventually get his revenge, even if he was sealed in someone. He would avenge his family._

"_No problem. Do you remember what that man looked like? Anything significant like eye color, skin color, and the like?"_

"_**I remember seeing yellow eyes and pale skin. He was wearing a green vest too." **__After Kyuubi said that, Arashi immediately realized who it was. He had to talk to Sarutobi about this quickly._

"_I know who it was. I need to talk to the current hokage about this quickly. How do I get out of here?"_

"_**I'll get you out. Thanks again, Arashi."**__ With that, Kyuubi sent the ex-hokage back to the real world. He woke up in the training ground, just where he passed out and had that conversation. He tried to get up, but he was having a hard time. Apparently, he exhausted himself too much._

'_**I'll lend you some of my chakra so you can go to the hokage. If you ever need my help, just ask.'**_

"_Thanks Kyuubi."_

'_**Don't talk, just think. People will think you're crazy, especially since they don't know both of your secrets.'**_

'_I see. Alright, I'll talk to you later.' As soon as he received the chakra from the fox, he stood up and went to the hokage's office to talk to Sarutobi._

_(End Flashback)_

After remembering what Kyuubi and he talked about, he went inside the tower.

* * *

Hello everyone. I'd like to thank metor, RasenganRendan, A-bomber, I-love-sca, tru-viet, animeflunky, and Yondy for my first set of reviews. Thanks everyone. I'll think about the pairing suggestions you gave. I had a few of them in mind already.

Anyway, here's a preview of the next chapter.

_"I suggest moving Naruto to my team, and giving Inuzuka Kiba to Kakashi." Kurenai suddenly spoke up, catching the attention of everybody present in the room._

_"Why do you say that, Kurenai?" The third asked, curious as to why Kurenai would suggest something unexpected._

_"Arashi always lacked in genjutsu, which makes me the better jounin sensei for him. Kiba can be moved to Kakashi's team because Kakashi can teach him how to effectively use dogs in battle. Besides, Arashi taught Kakashi everything he knows. There would be nothing Kakashi could teach him that he already doesn't know."_


	3. New Friends and New Teams

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

"**Text"** – Kyuubi speaking

'_**Text'**_ – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Two: New Friends and New Teams**

(Hokage tower)

Sarutobi was having his usual boring routine. Like before, it consisted of dealing with paperwork, assigning missions, more paperwork, a short break, and then more paperwork. He was about to start on another document, until he heard a rather loud knock on the door. Thankful for getting an excuse to put his work on hold, he called for the person on the other side to come in.

Naruto walked into the room with a look of complete seriousness. This surprised the third a bit, Naruto was rarely this serious. Whatever reason the blond had to come here must have been very important, more important than any document on his current stack of paperwork.

"Hello Naruto. What brings you here?" The old man started the conversation.

"I need to talk to you, it's very important. Can you place a silencing seal on the room?" This comment startled the third a bit. Deciding that whatever he wanted to talk about was serious enough that the blond wanted a silencing seal to be made, he locked the door and started to perform the jutsu. When it was finished, he sat back down on his chair and motioned Naruto to sit down on a chair as well.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"It's about the attack four years ago. I know what, or rather, who caused it." This comment shocked the third even more. This was serious news; he had to know everything about it.

"I had a talk with the Kyuubi. He told me that..." Naruto was cut off before he had a chance to finish that sentence.

"You can talk to Kyuubi?" Everything about this talk seemed to shock the Sandaime even more. If this conversation took long enough, he might suffer a heart attack.

"Yes, now don't interrupt." After a second of silence which meant that he would not be interrupted anymore, he continued. "He told me that the reason he attacked Konoha was that his family was killed by a man with a leaf forehead protector. According to the fox, the man had yellow eyes, pale skin, and was wearing a green jacket, which meant that he was most likely jounin level. Orochimaru fits that description perfectly."

'_Orochimaru. Haven't you done enough to harm this village already?' _Sarutobi thought with a frown. He had a sliver of hope that the snake sannin would remain at least neutral to Konoha after he left the village. After hearing this from the ex-hokage, that sliver of hope vanished into nothingness.

"I guess that's enough for now. You need to get back to your paperwork. I'll go back outside to train my chakra control. See you later, Sarutobi."

"Goodbye, Arashi. I'll see you later." With that, Naruto left the room to continue his training.

* * *

(Training grounds)

Naruto arrived at the training grounds and was pleased to see that it wasn't occupied. After a minute of stretching, he resumed his earlier exercise, tree climbing. He was marking his progress with a kunai. After a couple of hours, he finally reached the top of the tree. He jumped back down to take a short break. After a few minutes of resting, he felt himself being pulled back into his mindscape. Recognizing it as a call from Kyuubi, he let himself fall into slumber. When he opened his eyes, he was once again in front of the cage that held the nine-tailed fox.

"Hello Kyuubi. Why did you bring me here?"

"**I discovered some new effects that happened when you sealed me into yourself. Simply put, your senses have heightened and you have an increased chakra capacity because of having me within you. However, there is one other change that is quite significant, and I felt that you needed to know about this as soon as possible."**

Naruto was happy about his additional perks of having the fox sealed inside him. Yet, he was confused and slightly worried about that last bit. What could be so important that the fox felt that he needed to know about this change now?

"**When you sealed me into yourself, my presence in your body altered your blood composition. This means that your blood from 4 years ago is different from your blood now. Because of this, your contract with the toads has been negated."**

Naruto was taken aback by this statement. He had summoned toads quite often in the past. They played a big role in his victories. For him to lose his ability to summon them would be a major setback, especially in his current state.

"Damn it. Does this mean that I can't summon toads anymore?" He said this with a hint of sadness in his voice. Kyuubi noticed the tone in his statement. He would make it up to the Yondaime by offering a replacement. He hoped this would make him happy.

"**No. However, I can give you a replacement." **As soon as the fox said that, a summoning contract appeared out of nowhere and landed next to Naruto's feet. **"This is the summoning contract for foxes. Like toads, they can be used either for transport or for battle. Go ahead and sign it."**

Naruto though was reluctant to sign it. He wanted to sign the contract, but he didn't want to break his loyalty with Gamabunta and the toads. Kyuubi noticed that he was taking his time about this. _**'Probably still thinking about that toad.'**_

"**Arashi, I know what you're thinking. You don't want to lose your allegiance with the toads. You are allowed to sign multiple summoning contracts. So, you can sign the one for foxes until you meet that old sage Jiraiya, and then sign the one for toads." **After hearing this, Naruto signed the summoning contract for foxes. The contract disappeared in a puff of smoke when he was done.

"**Now that that's done, you need to wake up and continue your training. Oh, and by the way, someone is looking over you." **The Kyuubi then ejected him from his mindscape and back into the real world.

Naruto stirred for a bit, and then opened his eyes. As soon as he did, his vision came into contact with pearl white eyes that belonged to a girl about his age. When the girl saw him stir and wake up, she gasped and started to blush. Naruto was curious as to why this girl was here. He decided that if he wanted to know, he would ask her.

"Umm, hello. What are you doing here?" The girl was a bit surprised that the boy was talking to her. She looked up at him, still having the blush from earlier.

"I w-was looking a-after you w-while you were s-sleeping. I was w-watching you train." Naruto noticed that she stuttered a lot, probably because she was shy. He thought it was kind of cute.

"Well, thank you for watching over me, umm…" He noticed that her face became even redder than before.

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata." After finding out her name, Naruto continued his earlier statement.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Thanks for looking after me, Hinata-chan." He ended his sentence with a smile. Hinata's blush got even worse, and after being called 'Hinata-chan' and seeing him smile, her world went black as she fainted. She was falling to the ground, until Naruto caught her with his arms.

"Oh shit. What did I do?" Naruto was beginning to panic, thinking he had done something. He doesn't have any experience in relationships, even in his past life as the Yondaime.

'_**Don't worry kit, she only fainted.'**_ Kyuubi decided to help out on the situation. Naruto however, was taken aback by the nickname Kyuubi gave him.

'Kit? Is that a nickname you're going to call me every now and then?' Kyuubi was snickering at this comment.

'_**Maybe. Now, you better bring her home, since she isn't in any condition to do so herself.'**_ Deciding that the fox was right, he carried Hinata in his arms and made his way to the Hyuuga compound. When he reached the compound, he found Hiashi just outside the door. He was about to look for his daughter, but stopped when he saw the blond carrying her towards him.

"Hello Arashi. Thank you for bringing my daughter home." The Hyuuga head was smirking at the ex-hokage.

"Hello Hiashi. Hinata-chan was looking after me while I fell asleep at the training grounds. I talked to her after I wake up, and she fainted all of a sudden." Hiashi's smirk got even wider. "What's with the smirk?"

"Well, you are carrying my daughter in your arms, and you just called her 'Hinata-chan'. Did something happen at the training grounds?" Hearing this, Naruto started to blush.

"What are you talking about, Hiashi? Nothing happened between us. I have to go now, bye." Naruto handed Hinata to his father and started to leave. The Hyuuga head assumed that it was out of embarrassment. He then went back inside the compound, and carried Hinata to her room and to her bed. He then thought about what happened earlier with Naruto.

'It seems that Arashi likes my daughter. And when he said that she fainted while talking to him, she probably likes him too. The Yondaime and Hinata… this should be interesting.' With a smile on his face, he left the room.

* * *

(Time Skip)

Naruto was on his way to the ninja academy. Sarutobi had suggested that he once again join the academy to make some new friends. He thought it wasn't a bad idea, and he didn't have much to do anyway besides train. He was put into the current year's graduating class. He assumed that he wouldn't know anyone on the class. Little did he know how wrong he was.

Knocking on the door, he pulled a note out of his pocket. When the door opened, he saw a chuunin with a scar on his face looking at him. Naruto handed the note to the man and waited for him to finish reading it. When the chuunin nodded, he walked into the room to once again begin his first day in the academy. Once Naruto got inside, he scanned the room to check on his new classmates and potential friends. After a second of looking at the students, his eyes widened as he noticed a certain girl. 'Hinata-chan…'

Hinata was having her usual day at the academy. When Iruka walked to the door and read a note, she got curious. She assumed that it was a new student. When the new student walked into the room, her eyes widened as a blush crept up her face. 'Naruto-kun…'

The rest of the class was curious as well as to whom this new person was. Naruto noticed this and started to introduce himself.

"Hello everyone, I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Assuming that this amount of information about him was enough, Iruka spoke up.

"Welcome, Naruto. We were just about to go outside and have a few sparring sessions. Do you want to come?" Upon hearing the words 'sparring session', Naruto couldn't resist. "Sure, let's go."

* * *

(Academy training grounds)

When he arrived at the training grounds, he noticed that it was about the same size as the one he used to train on. His gaze then turned to Hinata. She was looking at him as well. When they realized that the other was looking at them, they both blushed and looked away. Fortunately for them, no one saw this little exchange. When Iruka started talking, they snapped out of their trances and paid attention to what the chuunin was saying.

"Alright, we'll have a few spars. After each fight, we'll discuss their performance. Naruto, since everyone is curious about your abilities, why don't you go first? You can choose your opponent." Naruto was happy that he was fighting first. 'I hope Hinata-chan will be watching me.' He then scanned the group of students for one that looked strong.

"How about that one in the blue shirt?" Naruto didn't know any of his classmates yet, except for Hinata. He certainly didn't want to hurt her though.

"Are you sure, Naruto? He is the one most likely to be the rookie of the year." Iruka was a bit concerned. After all, a new student is going to face the best in the class.

"Even better." Naruto had a grin on his face. Everyone noticed this grin, and all of them had mixed thoughts.

'Hah! Nobody can beat Sasuke-kun, especially that new guy!' Sakura and Ino had faith in their precious 'Sasuke-kun', along with the rest of the fan club.

'It's too troublesome, but this new guy seems good…'

'Naruto-kun, be careful.' Hinata was concerned for Naruto.

'Dobe. I'll show you the power of the Uchiha clan.' Sasuke then made his way to the center of the field. He was going to beat this new guy, he knew it.

"Ready? Begin!" As soon as Iruka finished that statement, Sasuke was running full speed towards the blond. Naruto wasn't moving at all, he didn't even seem worried. When Sasuke reached striking distance, he attacked Naruto relentlessly, never stopping to give him room to counter. Naruto was on the defensive, evading and parrying all of his opponent's attacks. 'I wonder if I should stop playing with him now. After all, I have an image to uphold.'

When Naruto found an opening, he took it. He threw a right hook at Sasuke's face. The Uchiha was barely able to dodge the blow. His sudden move staggered his tempo, and this time he was the one on the defensive. Naruto was attacking just as fast as Sasuke had been earlier, and this time the Uchiha was having a hard time evading the attacks. Eventually, Sasuke had enough and jumped into the air and started performing handseals.

_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu! _Naruto was surprised at the sudden use of ninjutsu. He decided that if his opponent was willing to go that far, then he would as well. He started performing the handseals for the jutsu he was about to use.

_Doton: Doryuu Heki. _Naruto spit out a stream of mud, which quickly solidified into a protective wall. The wall absorbed the multiple fireballs that were thrown out by the Uchiha. Sasuke looked in shock at the blond's jutsu. Naruto noticed this, and decided to pull out another jutsu, hoping that this one would be enough to finish the match. He didn't want anyone to get suspicious.

_Fuuton: Daitoppa._ A sudden explosion of wind was sent out from Naruto's location and was rapidly heading towards Sasuke. The Uchiha was still in the air and could not evade. Having no choice, he put his arms in front of him, hoping to at least defend from the jutsu. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't enough. The force of the jutsu was enough to send Sasuke flying straight into a tree. When he didn't get up after a few seconds, Iruka ruled the match to be over. Everyone couldn't believe it. A newcomer defeated the potential rookie of the year.

Sakura and Ino ran towards the fallen Uchiha, worry clearly written on their faces. This didn't surprise the rest of the class one bit. What surprised them was when Hinata ran towards Naruto and started to check his body for any wounds. When they had a conversation, everyone was listening, even Sakura and Ino.

"Naruto-kun, a-are you a-alright?" It was clear that she was concerned for the blond. The class just assumed that this act from Hinata was out of kindness.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Both of them blushed at their closeness. Everyone was stunned at his reply. It was like they knew each other very well. The way he called her 'Hinata-chan' strengthened this point. Their respective blushes proved it. Iruka decided to break up this moment and told the class to take their lunch.

"Want to eat lunch with me, Hinata-chan?" Naruto offered the young Hyuuga. After all, she was the only one that he knew in the class, and he sure isn't going to eat alone. He was hoping she would accept, he wanted to talk to her.

"H-hai, I w-would l-like to eat l-lunch with y-you, Naruto-kun." Hinata usually ate alone, but now that Naruto has joined her class, she wanted to eat with him. Like him, she wanted to talk to Naruto.

"Ok then, let's go." He held her hand and took her to a nearby tree. Both of them blushed at the contact, but neither let go of the other's hand. This didn't go unnoticed by the class. After a while, they made it to the tree. They sat down on the ground and pulled out their respective lunches, cinnamon rolls for Hinata and packed ramen for Naruto. They started eating their food, enjoying the company of each other.

"So Hinata-chan, how have you been?" Naruto decided to initiate the conversation, knowing how shy Hinata is.

"I-I've been d-doing f-fine, N-naruto-kun. H-how about y-you?" Naruto noticed that she had been stuttering more than when they last talked at the training ground years ago. 'Why does she stutter all the time?'

'_**It's obvious, she likes you.' **_Kyuubi decided to add his own opinion.

'_She likes me!? Are you sure?'_ Naruto was surprised at this statement from the Kyuubi. He never thought that Hinata liked him. Even in his past life, he never seemed to notice when a person liked him.

'_**I'm sure. No one blushes and stutters that much around another person.'**_ Only after the fox said this that Naruto realized the simple truth. The way she always blushed and stuttered around him, he couldn't believe that he didn't notice it at all. He was snapped out of his thoughts by someone calling his name.

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata had been calling him for around ten seconds. She was concerned for him, he spaced out all of a sudden. When Naruto regained his senses, he talked to Hinata.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, I probably spaced out. I'm doing fine myself." Hinata bought this excuse, and Naruto was happy she did. He wasn't ready to tell both of his secrets to anyone that didn't know, even Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, I've been wondering. When you're around me, you always blush and stutter. Why is that?" Although Naruto already knew why, he wanted to hear it from the source. Hinata's face resembled a tomato at that time. She wasn't ready to tell him that she liked him. But here he was, asking her about it and right now, he was expecting an answer. _'Oh well, now or never.'_

"W-well N-naruto-kun, it's b-because t-that I l-like y-you." She blushed even harder and looked at the ground. She had confessed to him that she liked him. Now it was up to him whether he was going to return the feelings or not.

"I'm glad to hear that, Hinata-chan. I just want to tell you that I umm… I like you too. I've wanted to tell you ever since you were watching over me back then at the training grounds." Naruto was blushing hard as well after saying this. Hinata was surprised at hearing this and moved her head up to look at him. When she saw that he was blushing, she knew that he was telling the truth. She was happy that he returned her feelings.

"I'm g-glad to h-hear t-that too, N-naruto-kun."

Iruka then called everyone over, saying that lunch break is over. With that, everyone moved to the center of the field and discussed what happened in the earlier match.

'This is going to be a very happy year.' Both Naruto and Hinata thought.

* * *

(Time Skip; Genin Exams)

"Alright, for this genin exam, everyone has to produce a perfect henge and create at least 3 bunshins. Then you will perform a jutsu that you know to gain extra points. First up is Aburame Shino. Everyone else, sit down and wait for your turn."

Shino then walked into the room, while everyone else was doing their own thing. Sakura and Ino were fighting on who would sit next to Sasuke, Shikamaru was sleeping, Chouji was eating chips, Kiba was talking to Akamaru, and Naruto was talking to Hinata.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, you'll pass, I'm sure of it." Naruto then held her hand to assure her that she would pass. She had lost her stutter months ago; she had nothing to hide from him anymore.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She smiled at him, thankful for his comfort. He smiled back at her as well.

Everyone had their turn already. Some had passed, and some had failed. The last one up was Naruto. Hinata was waiting for him, hoping that he would pass.

"Okay Naruto, please perform henge for us." Iruka told the blond, while his assistant chuunin Mizuki was grading the boy. After Naruto performed a perfect henge into Iruka, the chuunin asked Naruto to perform bunshin.

"This might be different, but I'm sure that it still counts." Both chuunins were curious as to what he would do that was different. Forming his hands into a cross seal, Naruto then performed his jutsu.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu._ Ten clones then poofed into existence. Both chuunins were shocked. This was a jounin level jutsu, and here was a kid who wasn't even genin who can do it without breaking a sweat. Of course, being chuunin, both of them didn't know of the secrets that Naturo holds.

"Very impressive, Naruto. Now, perform any jutsu that you learned outside of the academy for additional points." Naruto went deep in thought. What jutsu did he know and can control that was strong enough to blow them off their minds while not sparking any suspicions? Seeing that his clones were still there, he knew which jutsu he was going to use. He ordered his clones to spread out into different parts of the room. He then performed the required hand seals for the technique he was about to do.

_Bunshin Daibakuha._ The clones then exploded one by one to prevent the room from collapsing. Both Iruka and Mizuki were stunned. This skill was even harder than the Kage Bunshin. Needless to say, Naruto passed with flying colors. Iruka informed him that he was rookie of the year. After wearing his hitai-ate, he walked out of the room. He saw Hinata looking at him, as if asking how he did. When she saw his forehead protector, Hinata ran up to Naruto and hugged him. Naruto hugged her back. Both of them were now genin.

"Congratulations, Naruto-kun." Hinata then let go of the hug, and smiled at him. He returned her smile with one of his own.

"Arigato, Hinata-chan."

* * *

(Hokage tower)

The hokage was having a meeting with the jounin senseis that were going to handle this years graduates. He was discussing the team arrangements with the jounin.

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke under Kakashi. Team 8 will be Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino under Kurenai. Team 10 will be Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji under Asuma. Any questions?

"I suggest moving Naruto to my team, and giving Inuzuka Kiba to Kakashi." Kurenai suddenly spoke up, catching the attention of everybody present in the room.

"Why do you say that, Kurenai?" The third asked, curious as to why Kurenai would suggest something unexpected.

"Arashi always lacked in genjutsu, which makes me the better jounin sensei for him. Kiba can be moved to Kakashi's team because Kakashi can teach him how to effectively use dogs in battle. Besides, Arashi taught Kakashi everything he knows. There would be nothing Kakashi could teach him that he already doesn't know."

"Those are good points. Very well then. Naruto is now in Team 8 and Inuzuka Kiba has been moved to Team 7. Any other questions?"

When nobody spoke up, Sarutobi the finalized the teams. He then dismissed the jounins and called for Iruka so he can inform the chuunin about the team arrangements.

'_I know you'll do well under Kurenai, Arashi.'

* * *

_

Hello everyone. I'm back with another chapter, this time twice as long. I hope you like it. I'll respond to a few reviews here to clear up any confusion.

_rasengan86 _– I'm absolutely sure that Yondaime is Naruto's father as well. They have the same attitude, personality, and physique. They even have the same blood type. I just thought that a little change here and there would be good. I decided to let the jounins know about Naruto because he needs to be protected. After all, a lot of people hate the Yondaime for his part in the Great Shinobi War. Seeing as he is only a child, he needs protection.

_dehaloking_ – I tried adding in a little more detail. Is it better now?

_Yondy_ – I won't have him do Hiraishin anytime soon. Maybe Rasengan, as he can say that he learned it from Jiraiya. Also, I'm not sure what to do with Zabuza and Haku yet. I might keep them alive.

I've also finally put something in my profile page. Please check it out if you have time. Thanks.

* * *

**Jutsu List** (Thanks to Wikipedia for the explanations)

_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu_ – Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique. This jutsu sends multiple balls of fire at a target.

_Doton: Doryuu Heki_ – Earth Release: Earth Style Wall. The user spits out a stream of mud that quickly grows and solidifies into a strong, protective wall.

_Fuuton: Daitoppa_ – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. This jutsu sends out a powerful explosion of wind from the user's location, easily leveling anything in its path.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ – Shadow Clone Technique. This jutsu creates clones of the user. Unlike the Clone Technique (Bunshin no Jutsu), these clones are actual copies, not illusions.

_Bunshin Daibakuha_ – Clone Great Explosion. This jutsu works in combination with the Shadow Clone Technique to create a shadow clone that will explode on command.

* * *

Here's the preview for the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

"_Kurenai, recently Team 7 went on a C-rank escort mission. However, it has turned into a B-rank, possibly an A-rank mission. Kakashi has requested for backup because his team wanted to continue the mission. I'm sending Team 8 as backup. Do you have any questions?"_

"_No, hokage-sama. We will pack and move out as soon as possible."_


	4. Team Dynamics

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

"**Text"** – Kyuubi speaking

'_**Text'**_ – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Three: Team Dynamics**

(Hokage tower, Naruto's room)

Naruto's day begins with a blush on his face as he wakes up from a rather detailed dream. He was dreaming that both he and Hinata were on a date. When they kissed on the dream, he quickly sat up on the bed and woke up, his face having a slight hint of red in it. After taking a shower, he walks to his closet. He was looking at all of his different clothes, wondering which one he was going to use. When he saw one that brought back memories, he took it and began to wear it.

'_Perhaps it's time I started wearing this.'_ Naruto then stood next to the mirror to take a look at his appearance. He was wearing his old cloak on top of a black shirt and dark blue pants. The cloak was red and had white flames at the bottom. It was a variation of the standard hokage robe, which was white and had red flames. He personally requested for a set of these to be made, it reminded him of his past. After a minute of checking himself, he left the room and made his way to the academy. Today was the day he was assigned to a team.

* * *

(Ninja Academy)

When Naruto entered the room, everyone was staring at him, particularly at his new outfit. He then casually made his way to an empty seat next to Hinata and occupied it. Hinata blushed when she saw up close just how great his new clothes were.

"Good morning Naruto-kun, you look great." Hinata started the conversation this time. Usually Naruto was the one to start.

"Good morning to you too Hinata-chan, and thank you." Naruto replied with a smile. Hinata smiled back at him as she was thinking of something that they can talk about. When Iruka walked into the room and started announcing the teams, she stopped her train of thought to listen to the chuunin. She was hoping that she was put in the same team as her Naruto-kun, and she knew that he wanted that as well.

"Congratulations on making it to genin. Unfortunately, Mizuki had an incident yesterday and can't make it here today. I will be announcing the teams, and then your jounin instructors will arrive and take their teams." Iruka then announced several irrelevant teams. After a while, he made it to team 7.

"Team 7 will be Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your instructor is Hatake Kakashi." Sakura jumped out of her seat, proclaiming that true love prevails after all. Sasuke looked annoyed at her, while Ino was furious that she wasn't teamed with her precious Sasuke. Naruto had different thoughts. _'I wonder if you will be saying that after meeting Kakashi… in 3 hours.'_ He snickered at the thought of it.

"Team 8 consists of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your instructor is Yuuhi Kurenai." Both Naruto and Hinata were happy that they were teammates. Shino merely looked on, recognizing the potential strength of his team since Naruto was in it.

"Team 9 is still in effect, so we'll go straight to team 10. Team 10 is Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji. Your instructor is Sarutobi Asuma." Ino was fuming. Her team consisted of her, a lazy bum, and a fat ass. She inwardly cursed, thinking that her rival Sakura had all the luck. She'll just have to get used to this.

After another minute of Iruka annoucing the rest of the teams, most of the new genin were talking to their new teammates. Sasuke was brooding while Ino and Sakura were having a heated talk about the team arrangements. Shikamaru fell asleep at having nothing to do and Chouji was eating his bag of chips. Naruto was staring at Hinata's face, and she was doing likewise. Their affection for each other was clearly present while this was going on.

Eventually, two jounin arrived and entered the room. One was a tall man with a cigarette on his mouth. The other was a woman with red eyes. Both of them took a long look at the graduating class, then they called their respective teams.

"Team 10, we're going." Chouji woke up Shikamaru and then both of them followed their jounin sensei outside. Ino followed soon after, an aura of disappointment clearly with her.

"Team 8, please follow me." Naruto and Hinata walked out of the room hand in hand, which Kurenai noticed immediately. Shino was behind them. Team 8 made their way to an empty training ground, one which Naruto and Hinata recognized immediately. Upon arriving, they each find a comfortable place to sit on and started the usual introductions.

"Alright, let's begin. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I like vodka and salted octopus, and I dislike cake. My dream is to reach jounin, but since I have already attained it, my new dream is to help you three reach your own goals." She then looked at Shino, and he assumed that it was his turn.

"I'm Aburame Shino. I like spending time with my family. I dislike people who kill bugs without reason. My dream is to become the greatest bug user in Konoha." As usual, Shino was short and direct to the point. Having learned enough from him, Kurenai looked at Hinata and told her that it was her turn.

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I like Naruto-kun and cinnamon rolls. I dislike people who judge others without reason. My dream is to meet my father's expectations and to spend my life with Naruto-kun." She then looks at Naruto and blushes hard enough for everyone present to notice. Kurenai looks at the scene with a smile; she knew that Hinata would be a great kunoichi. Naruto just blushed back, but not as hard as the young Hyuuga. Realizing that he was the only one left, he began to introduce himself.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and Hinata-chan. I dislike a certain snake, which I intend to kill soon for a special friend." Kurenai didn't expect this. She knew both of his secrets and who he was referring to in both instances, but she didn't know why Naruto would want to kill Orochimaru. "My dream is to be with Hinata-chan, and to become what I once was." This comment confused the other two genin, but Kurenai knew what he was talking about. She knew that he would become hokage again soon.

"Okay. Now that we're done, I can explain to you your final genin test."

"Kurenai-sensei, what do you mean by that?" Hinata was confused, what was she talking about?

"This test will determine whether the three of you will become genin. Overall, this test has a 66 failure rate. Meet me here tomorrow at 8:00 for your final exam." She knew that these three will become genin, They had the potential and the capabilities to do so. Kurenai then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Realizing that she was gone, the three genin then left. Shino walked home, while Naruto walked hand in hand with Hinata, wanting to take her somewhere. Hinata, wanting to spend more time with Naruto, just let him lead her to whereever it is he was planning to go to.

* * *

(Ichiraku Ramen)

Naruto arrived with Hinata and took their seats. They waited for a while before Teuchi came out of the back and saw his favorite customer with someone else.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite customer! What will you have today?" Knowing Naruto, whatever he ordered would be enough. He would make a fortune anyway.

"Hey old man! I'll have two bowls of chicken, and whatever she would like." Naruto said, looking at Hinata after he finished the sentence.

"I'll have a bowl of miso ramen." Hinata says. She was willing to eat anything if it meant that she could be with Naruto. The ramen chef then went to the back and started making their orders. Naruto then took this as an opportunity to talk to Hinata.

"So Hinata-chan, are you worried about tomorrow's test?" Naruto, having experienced it before, wasn't worried at all. He already knew the trick behind these exams.

"At first I was nervous, but then I remembered that we were teammates. Now I feel confident about tomorrow's test because you will be there for me and I will be for you as well." Hinata then gave Naruto a smile, which showed the young blond how much she believed in him. Naruto couldn't help but smile back at her. Just then, Teuchi came back with their food and saw their little exchange.

"So Naruto, is she your girlfriend?" The old man asked his best customer with a grin. Upon hearing this, both Hinata and Naruto blushed and looked away, with the former being more obvious at showing their current state of embarrassment. Naruto decided to answer the question, seeing as the young Hyuuga was still busy looking at the ground.

"Yeah, she is." Hinata blushed harder and quickly looked at him in shock. She couldn't believe it. He thought of her as his girlfriend already. Hinata then decided to introduce herself to the ramen chef.

"Hello, my name is Hyuuga Hinata and I am Naruto-kun's g-girlfriend." She stuttered at the end, she still can't believe that she was his girlfriend in his mind. After hearing this, Teuchi smiled at the two and handed them their meals. Both of them started eating their food. Upon finishing, Naruto paid for both of them and they left the ramen stand. He then decided to walk her home, it was getting dark. Neither of them spoke the entire way. When they arrived at the Hyuuga compound, Hinata spoke up.

"Thanks for the meal, Naruto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the training grounds." Hinata then mustered up the courage to kiss Naruto… on the cheek. When she realized what she had done, she blushed hard and quickly walked towards her home. Naruto was taken aback by the sudden act of affection. He slowly walked home, the kiss still in his mind.

* * *

(Team 8 training grounds)

Naruto arrived at the training grounds at exactly 8:00, the scheduled time. He saw both of his teammates and his instructor all awaiting his arrival. Kurenai then saw him and started to give out the instructions for the final exam.

"For your final test, the three of you will take part in a fake mission and gather as much data as you can. I will take a 5 minute head start and walk around Konoha. After the 5 minutes are up, you three are to follow me and collect information without getting noticed too much. At noon, we will meet back here and I will ask you questions based on what I did around the village. The amount of information you can acquire will determine whether you pass or not. Any questions?"

"Kurenai-sensei, what if we get spotted?" Shino was wondering why she didn't say what would happen if they did, so he asked her.

"Everytime I notice you, I will try harder to conceal my actions. Eventually, if I become aware of you three too much, you won't be able to gather enough information to answer the questions at noon." This answer scared Hinata and Shino, but Naruto wasn't too worried. After a moment of silence, Kurenai assumed that there were no more questions, and told them that the test has begun. She walked off, going to her destination. Naruto took this time to ask a few questions to his teammates.

"Shino, did you place a bug on her yet?" The bug user then replied that he hasn't. Naruto groaned at hearing his response, this made things a bit harder for them. The three aspiring genins just waited until their 5 minutes were up.

"Alright, let's go. Hinata-chan, use your Byakugan to find Kurenai-sensei. Shino, as soon as we find her, place a bug on her. Preferably one that can fly and is small, to prevent her from noticing it." Naruto took charge of his team, just like he did with his old team when he was under Jiraiya. When both of his teammates nodded, Naruto led the way, walking in the same direction Kurenai had gone off to 5 minutes ago.

After half an hour of searching, Team 8 found their jounin instructor. She was at a medium-sized restaurant that served her favorite meals. Shino then sent one of his flying bugs to stay with Kurenai. Fortunately for them, the bug arrived at its destination unnoticed.

Ten minutes later, Asuma arrived and sat next to Kurenai. He ordered something, and talked to Kurenai. Naruto, with his heightened senses, could clearly hear what they were talking about. The male jounin was telling her that Team 10 passed their final exam, and was now officially a team of genin. He also told her about their exceptional teamwork when Ino started yelling at Shikamaru to stop being lazy. This made Naruto snicker, and his teammates looked at him in question.

"Team 10 passed their exam, but I don't know how they were able to. Asuma said that Ino had to yell at her teammates in order to have any semblance of teamwork at all." Hinata giggled at this, while Shino still had an expressionless reaction. After this short moment of conversation, Naruto told his teammates to focus on the task at hand. They did so, and gathered as much information as they can before time was up.

* * *

(Team 8 training grounds)

"Let's see how well you did. Naruto, where did I go?" Kurenai began asking the three questions, so she can measure how well her team can gather data. She already decided that she would pass this team as soon as she saw Arashi in it.

"Kurenai-sensei, you went at a restaurant near the hokage tower." The female jounin nodded and turned to Shino to ask him the next question.

"Shino, what did I order at said restaurant?" This question was easy. After all, if they saw her in the restaurant, then they had to see what she ate as well.

"You ordered salted octopus and a glass of water." Another correct answer for her team. So far, she was impressed, but it wasn't enough for her yet. She then turned to the young Hyuuga.

"Hinata, who arrived at the restaurant to talk to me, and what did the person look like?" Again, another easy question to ask her team.

"Asuma-sensei arrived around 10 minutes after you finished half of your food. He is the jounin in charge of team 10." Kurenai then asked her team a more difficult question. If any of them could answer this, then there was no doubt that they were good enough to pass with flying colors.

"Any of you can answer this next question. What did we talk about?" Naruto silently thanked Kyuubi for giving him heightened senses. Without it, they would have been unable to answer this. Before he could answer, Hinata decided to speak up.

"Asuma-sensei told you that team 10 passed their exam." Kurenai was satisfied with this answer, but she wondered if they knew more. She decided to ask a few more questions.

"Anything else the two of you would like to add?" Shino decided that he would continue from where Hinata left off.

"Asuma-san also said that Ino had to yell at her teammates in order to get anything resembling teamwork. After all, team 10 has Shikamaru in it, and he isn't really motivated to do anything." This was everything that the two jounins talked about. But Naruto remembered something else, something that was unspoken but was more important than whatever they had talked about. He decided to tell Kurenai. After all, this next piece of information might be the one that makes his team pass.

"That was all the two of you talked about. However, when the two of you left the restaurant, Asuma hugged you, and you were blushing. When I saw that, I assumed that you two are in a relationship." Upon hearing that, Kurenai blushed even more than when Asuma gave her that hug. She never thought that anyone would find out about their relationship, but now her whole team knew about it.

"Alright, that's enough information. Team 8 passes. Meet me at the hokage tower two days from now at 2:00 for your first mission." Kurenai then turned around and quickly left the field, the blush still on her face.

"Well, that was interesting… It reminds me of when I joined the academy. Hinata-chan was blushing all the time whenever I was close to her." Naruto took this moment to tease his girlfriend a little bit.

"You were blushing then too, Naruto-kun." Hinata decided to reverse the situation. Shino noticed that the two were having one of their private moments. He bade them goodbye, and went home to inform his parents that he had passed.

Naruto then took this opportunity to be alone with Hinata. They talked and had their share of laughs for a few hours until both of them had to go home. He took her on a date the next day, seeing as they were free for the whole day. Both of them had a good time. Their relationship was progressing very well.

* * *

For the next month, team 8 was busy doing D-rank missions. Most of them involved chasing a cat named Tora. Team 8 was wondering why the cat was running away all the time. When they first saw Tora's owner hug the poor feline to death, they felt bad for the cat. However, as shinobi of the leaf, they couldn't interfere with post-mission matters.

One day, team 8 was called by the hokage once again. They were hoping that it didn't involve Tora again. They were tired of chasing it around the village. Little did they know that this next mission would be the one that would change their lives.

* * *

(Hokage tower)

"Kurenai, recently Team 7 went on a C-rank escort mission. However, it has turned into a B-rank, possibly an A-rank mission. Kakashi has requested for backup because his team wanted to continue the mission. I'm sending Team 8 as backup. Do you have any questions?"

"No, hokage-sama. We will pack and move out as soon as possible." Hinata was a bit worried that her team's next mission was an A-rank mission. Seeing his girlfriend's concern, Naruto took her hand and squeezed it, silently telling her that everything would be alright. He would not let anyone harm his new friends. Team 8 then went to their respective homes to pack. After ten minutes, they met at the village entrance. When all of them were present, they made their way to Wave country.

* * *

(Wave country, river)

Upon arriving, Naruto saw his old student Kakashi trapped in a water prison held by Zabuza, a famous missing-nin from the mist. He took a closer look at the surroundings and saw even more. Sasuke and Kiba were both tired, no doubt from fighting Zabuza. Sakura was standing in front of an old man who seemed to be Team 7's client. From the looks of it, she didn't do a damn thing. Naruto decided to make his presence known by using _shunshin no jutsu_ to arrive at the river in front of Kiba and Sasuke. Kakashi was surprised. He expected reinforcements that were at least chuunin, but he certainly didn't expect that a newly formed genin team would be the one to provide backup. Meanwhile, the rest of team 8 arrived. Hinata and Shino were protecting the other genins, while Kurenai was protecting Tazuna.

"Looks like Konoha sent backup. But all they sent was another team of brats." Zabuza's comments slightly angered Naruto. He didn't want to be referred to as 'brat'. He then flared his chakra, intending to send a message to Zabuza.

Zabuza, as well as everyone present, felt the chakra being flared. The swordsman decided to get serious. This brat had more chakra than Kakashi. He summoned 3 water clones to take care of the blond genin. Naruto summoned 5 shadow clones, wanting to finish this quickly.

The fight was on.

* * *

Hello everyone. Sorry for being a bit later than usual with this chapter. I was a bit busy with some things. Anyway, I'll respond to a few more reviews to avoid confusion.

_Tashio_ – Before he graduated, Naruto still wore that horrible orange jumpsuit. He has a new outfit now though; it's at the start of the chapter. Hiashi did find it interesting that his best friend was dating his daughter. He understood that Arashi was young on the outside although was older than he seemed on the inside. He decided that Arashi dating Hinata was best for his daughter.

_rasengan86_ – I will limit Naruto's skill level. He won't be doing Hiraishin anytime soon. He will be using the Rasengan shortly though. He can just say that Jiraiya taught him the move. Seeing as Jiraiya is away, nobody can ask him to verify this.

_CW_ – Arashi made sure that the explosions were weak. The strength of the explosion is dependent on how much chakra you put in the jutsu. The Uchiha massacre still happened. Arashi couldn't interfere in it however; he still hasn't controlled his techniques yet to be able to fight back against Itachi.

_wraithspectre_ – The jounins knew who Naruto was because he needed to be protected. The council isn't always together to protect him. Here is an exerpt from chapter 2: _"We should keep his identity a secret, even from the villagers. Arashi had a lot of enemies, and it would be easy to kill him seeing as he is only a baby right now. __**Only jounin and anbu should know about this. After all, we need to protect him.**__" Sarutobi told the council.

* * *

_

More review replies after chapter editing

_Dragon Man 180_ – I edited the chapter as you requested. I realized my huge error and changed it immediately. Thanks for noticing it.

_rasengan86_ – The cloak he is wearing is different from his past one. I assumed that the white one with red flames was the standard hokage robes. The new one doesn't say Yondaime Hokage on the back, it would cause too much chaos if it did.

* * *

**Jutsu List **(Thanks to Wikipedia for the explanations)

_Shunshin no Jutsu_: Body Flicker Technique. This jutsu is a high-speed movement technique, allowing a ninja to move short distances at an almost untraceable speed.

* * *

Here is your chapter preview. Thanks for reading.

_Suddenly, red chakra started enveloping Naruto. His teeth became fangs, his hands became claws, and his blue eyes filled with warmth were now red and slitted, filled with anger. Seeing that hunter-nin hurt Hinata was enough to send him over the edge. He asked the Kyuubi for some chakra, seeing as his own was almost depleted from having to destroy Haku's mirrors. Everyone could see the sudden change in Naruto. They all feared for their lives, even his teammates. Then they all realized what Naruto was thinking. There was no more time for negotiations._

_It was time to kill._


	5. Clash in the Waves

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

"**Text"** – Kyuubi speaking, Kyuubified Naruto speaking

'_**Text'**_ – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Four: Clash in the Waves**

(Wave country, river)

Zabuza's water clones took the initiative against Naruto and his shadow clones. With a swing of each of the water clone's swords, a shadow clone was taken out. Naruto and his remaining clones decided to get serious. Attacks were thrown from both sides. Some were blocked, some were evaded. Eventually, both sides landed a clean hit and all of the clones were dispersed.

"You fight well for a brat." Zabuza was impressed with Naruto's skills. He wondered if Haku would be able to take him on.

"I can't say the same about you. After all, you trapped Kakashi in a water prison that renders you immobile." After hearing this, the missing-nin was infuriated. Nobody has ever mocked his skills and lived to tell about it. He decided that he would kill the blond, even if he was just a kid.

"You damn brat! I'll show you what real ninja are capable of!" Zabuza created a water clone and exchanged places with it. Now the clone was keeping hold on the water prison while the real Zabuza was free and able to fight. Zabuza then performed a handseal and got ready to use one of his favorite jutsus.

"Witness the finest in the art of silent killing, Kirigakure no Jutsu!" A thick blanket of mist appeared over the river, hiding Zabuza from everyone's view. Naruto wasn't worried at all; he had a technique that can defeat this jutsu. The rest of the genin however, were concerned for Naruto's well being. All of a sudden, Zabuza's voice called out.

"There are eight targets… Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, jugular vein, subclavian artery, kidney, and heart… Which target would you like to lose first?" Things were getting out of hand. Even with his heightened senses, he couldn't see or hear well in the mist. He then decided to use that jutsu. Hopefully, none of the genins would question him about it.

"How about none?" Naruto did the handseals required and applied an amount of chakra equal to the amount Zabuza used to perform the hiding mist technique. "Jutsu sho!" The mist began to dissolve. After a few seconds, Zabuza was visible to everyone again, the shock clearly evident on his face.

"Damn brat. I don't know how you did that, but it won't be enough. I can fight as well without the mist." Zabuza performed another set of handseals. He decided to use his most powerful technique, hoping it would take care of the young blond. Naruto, recognizing the hand seals, did a set of his own.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" A spiraling blast of water was fired at Naruto. At the same time, Naruto finished his set.

"Suiton: Suijinheki." A barrier made out of water rose up from the river halfway between Naruto and the blast of water from Zabuza's jutsu. The impact of the spiraling blast was shielded by the water wall. Both techniques cancelled each other out. While Zabuza was shaken by the kid's ability to defend against his best technique, Naruto charged in, ready to end the fight. Before he can land a blow, three senbon needles struck Zabuza in the neck. As Zabuza lost consciousness, his water clone broke apart, setting Kakashi free from the water prison. A hunter-nin caught Zabuza before he could fall into the water and drown.

"Thanks for all your help. I have been after Zabuza for a long time. I must go and take care of the body now. Goodbye." As soon as that sentence ended, the hunter-nin disappeared, taking Zabuza's body with her.

"Okay. Now that he's taken care of, let's go. I want to take a break." The rest of the genin and Tazuna looked at him, wondering how Naruto could hold his own against a B-ranked missing-nin. Hinata just looked at his boyfriend, wanting to run up to him and tell him how proud she was of him. She decided not to, knowing that Naruto was tired after that battle. With that, everyone continued on their way to Wave country.

* * *

(Wave country, forest)

After taking a break at Tazuna's house, Teams 7 and 8 were now at the forest. Kakashi and Kurenai were planning to teach their genins the tree climbing exercise. The two jounin, along with Naruto, explained to the rest that Zabuza was still alive. Hunter-nin disposed of the bodies on the spot, but the earlier one took Zabuza with him. They decided to train the genin in hopes of being able to hold their own against Zabuza.

"For today's training, all of you will be climbing trees." This statement by Kakashi surprised the genin, except Naruto and Hinata because they already mastered this exercise. Naruto knew it due to his past as the Yondaime, and Hinata knew it because it was taught to her when she was a child. Chakra control is a very important aspect in the Hyuuga clan, which meant that even children needed to know how to control their chakra at an early age.

"Say what? How will that help us become better ninja?" Sakura asked her instructor. Kiba, Shino, and Sasuke were wondering the same thing. Kakashi decided that it was better to show them instead of explaining.

"Naruto, would you show them what I mean?" Said genin climbed a tree using his feet and chakra, wanting to get this over with. Naruto had other plans that didn't involve climbing trees. He jumped back down and spoke to Kakashi and Kurenai.

"Would it be alright if I trained Hinata-chan in private? She already knows this exercise." Hinata blushed at the thought of being trained by Naruto. The two jounin told Naruto that it was fine with them. Naruto took Hinata by the hand and walked toward another section of the forest. Meanwhile, a certain Uchiha didn't take this very well.

'_How is it that Naruto and the Hyuuga get to train privately while I'm stuck climbing trees with the other incompetent genin? At this rate, I'll never be able to kill him! Am I really that weak?'_

Meanwhile, at the other section of the forest…

"What will we be doing together, Naruto-kun?" Hinata was happy that she was alone with her Naruto-kun. Being trained by him was just as good as being trained by a kage. She didn't know how true that statement was.

"Hinata-chan, I will teach you a jutsu. Before I do, I want you to channel your chakra through this piece of paper." Naruto pulled out said item from his pocket. He planned on teaching Hinata a technique as soon as team 8 was sent on this mission. He wanted her to be strong enough to be a force in the upcoming chuunin exam. Hinata took the paper and did what he said. The paper became wet, indicating that Hinata had an affinity for suiton jutsus.

"The paper became wet, which means that you are better suited with water element jutsus. From now on until the chuunin exams, I will be teaching you water techniques, each technique being better and harder to learn than the previous one. Together, we will be on top of everyone else in the chuunin exam. Now doesn't that sound nice?" Naruto flashed Hinata a smile which made her heart melt.

"Hai Naruto-kun, that sounds very nice." To her, it sounded perfect. Both of them being the top two in the exam, they would be recognized quickly. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Naruto spoke up again.

"Okay, now let's start. First, I will be teaching you Suirou no Jutsu. Do you remember the water prison Kakashi was in when we arrived at the river?" A quick nod from his girlfriend told him that she did. "We'll start with the handseals and then move on to chakra molding."

Naruto continued training Hinata until it was dark. Her progress has been going extremely well. Naruto assumed that she would learn the jutsu before they went back to Konoha. When they realized it was getting dark, they made their way back to Tazuna's house, hand in hand.

* * *

(Tazuna's house)

Naruto and Hinata arrived just in time for dinner. Everyone noticed that Hinata was panting while Naruto was fine. Kurenai took the initiative and asked the ex-hokage about their condition.

"Naruto, Hinata, what have you two been doing?"

"I was teaching her a jutsu. With her progress, she'll have it mastered by the time we get back to the village." Everyone was taken aback by what Naruto said. They don't know what surprised them more; Naruto being able to teach jutsus, or Hinata's capability of learning them that fast. Naruto took notice of their thoughts and decided to change the subject. At that very moment, Inari walked in the room intending to grab something to eat. When he saw the group of ninja there, he went on one of his annoying outbursts.

"Why do you keep on trying? Gatou will just win in the end anyway! Go home while you still can!" After that show of emotion, Inari ran back up to his room, his appetite clearly gone. Naruto decided to comfort the young kid. After giving Hinata a quick hug, he walked towards Inari's room.

"Inari, I know you're there. Listen to me. Those who give up without trying are cowards. They will never be able to overcome their fear and defeat their enemies. Do you want your family to think of you as a coward?"

"N-no, I w-won't be a c-coward in f-front of my f-family!" The young kid was sobbing, indicating that he was crying. Naruto's pep talk made him realize how much of a coward he had been. He silently thanked Naruto for showing him the light. Naruto, after hearing what he said, smiled and went back to the dinner table, wanting to satisfy his hunger and be with Hinata.

* * *

(Forest area, 3 days later)

Naruto was continuing to teach Hinata how to perform the water prison technique. She had the handseals and the chakra molding down. The only thing remaining was the jutsu itself. During one of their training sessions, they spot a person walking towards them. Wanting to know this person, they initiated a conversation.

"Can we help you miss?" Naruto asked the girl after telling Hinata to take a short break. Haku noticed that the Hyuuga was trying to learn the water prison technique, a technique that Zabuza used earlier. She mentally told herself to not attack them now and take caution when they meet again.

"I'm looking for some herbs. Do you mind if you two could help me a bit?" Haku replied with a smile. "I need them to create some medicine; they are pretty effective after all." Hinata didn't see anything wrong with this, so she agreed to help out. Naruto however, recognized the figure of this girl. It seemed pretty familiar. Only after he heard her speak did he know who she was. Naruto decided not to attack her now and wait for a better time. Hinata was pretty tired, and the hunter-nin could go after her if they fought.

An hour later, the girl left, satisfied with the herbs she had. After making sure that she wasn't still around, Naruto talked to his girlfriend.

"Did you recognize who that was, Hinata-chan?" Hinata tried to think, but she couldn't come up with anyone. Naruto noticed this, and started to talk again. "She was the hunter-nin that interfered in my fight with Zabuza." Hinata was surprised at what he said. If the girl earlier was who he said she was, why didn't Naruto attack her when she didn't expect anything? Seeing Hinata's reaction, Naruto knew what she was thinking. He decided to answer her thoughts.

"I didn't engage her because you were still exhausted from your training. If I had attacked her, she would have taken care of you quickly and that will put me in a bad situation. I decided to wait for a better time." Hinata felt bad, she couldn't help Naruto when he could have used it. Now they still have to worry about a potentially powerful enemy.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, if only I wasn't tired, we could have defeated her now. Instead, we have to worry about her later. I'm useless…" Naruto couldn't bear to hear this from her. He decided to comfort her, hoping that it would make her feel better.

"No Hinata-chan, you aren't useless. Training makes anyone tired, even me. Keep in mind that this training will make you better. Stop worrying about her; we'll take care of her when the time comes." This comment made Hinata better. Now she didn't feel so bad anymore.

"Ok Naruto-kun, we'll deal with that later, together." Both of them smiled at the other. They continued training after their little talk.

* * *

(Time skip, Tazuna's house)

Naruto was sitting in a chair next to the bed where Hinata was sleeping on. She had exhausted herself learning the water prison technique. She had mastered it yesterday and fainted after successfully using it on one of Naruto's shadow clones. She has been sleeping for a long time now, and Naruto was happy watching over her. He was proud at her for mastering a technique so quickly. The other shinobi were at the bridge, watching over Tazuna.

Naruto stood up and went downstairs to get something to eat. Along the way, he heard a few noises that didn't sound like anyone that lived at the house. Cautiously, he made his way downstairs. He saw a pair of samurai forcefully taking Tsunami by the hand, while Inari was shoved away. Quickly taking action, he used shunshin no jutsu to appear behind the samurai and stabbed a kunai through their necks. He didn't want to kill anyone, but he had to, to save Tsunami's life. Inari was scared at what had transpired. He saw one of his friends kill two samurai. He cowered in fear towards the corner.

At this very moment, Hinata woke up and went downstairs to see what was going on. What she saw surprised her as well. Naruto was holding a kunai in each hand, Inari was whimpering at the corner, Tsunami was speechless, and there were two dead bodies on the ground with stab wounds on their necks. When Naruto saw her, he decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry all of you had to see this. I had to kill them; they would have killed Tsunami if I didn't take action." He then walked over to Inari, wanting to comfort him once again.

"Inari, you promised that you wouldn't be a coward anymore." He handed the young boy the two kunai that he used to kill earlier. "You're the man of the house; it is your responsibility to protect those you love. Use these if the need arises." After Inari took the two weapons, Naruto looked at Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, the others are in danger. Let's go." Together, they made their way to the bridge.

* * *

(Wave country, bridge)

When the couple arrived, they immediately scanned the area. Kakashi and Kurenai were currently fighting Zabuza. Sakura was guarding Tazuna, both of them clearly having a look of worry in their faces. Then they looked to where the others were. What they saw shocked both of them.

Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino were on the ground, exhausted but conscious. Haku had taken all three of them down easily. Shino's bugs couldn't attack well in cold conditions, he fell first. Next to fall was Kiba. Both he and Akamaru couldn't pierce through Haku's ice mirrors. Sasuke was the last to fall. He couldn't keep up with the masked nin, even with his Sharingan to help. Naruto and Hinata decided to engage Haku. They needed to take her down now. She could kill the genin if they didn't act fast. Naruto did some handseals and performed a chakra-heavy technique.

'_Doton: Retsudotenshou!'_ The ground beneath Haku's ice mirrors started to tremble. A couple of seconds later, the ice mirrors slowly sank to the ground. Haku was shocked, her technique was being destroyed. Looking around, she saw the two genin from before. She assumed that they were the ones that caused this. Haku composed herself and got ready to face two more opponents.

As Naruto and Hinata ran towards the hunter-nin, Hinata stumbled. Apparently she was still tired from yesterday's training session. Haku capitalized on this opportunity. She threw senbon needles at the young Hyuuga, all of them hitting her. She fell to the ground with a scream that made Naruto's blood boil. His mind was clouded by rage. He was going to take her down for what she did to Hinata.

Suddenly, red chakra started enveloping Naruto. His teeth became fangs, his hands became claws, and his blue eyes filled with warmth were now red and slitted, filled with anger. Seeing that hunter-nin hurt Hinata was enough to send him over the edge. He asked the Kyuubi for some chakra, seeing as his own was almost depleted from having to destroy Haku's mirrors. Everyone could see the sudden change in Naruto. They all feared for their lives, even his teammates. Then they all realized what Naruto was thinking. There was no more time for negotiations.

It was time to kill.

Naruto used shunshin no jutsu to appear next to Haku. He then threw an onslaught of taijutsu attacks at her. Haku was barely defending herself. _'What did I do that caused this sudden change in him? Is the girl I attacked earlier his precious person?'_ A hit that landed caused her to stop her thoughts and focus on the fight. Unfortunately, that hit was all that Naruto needed to finish her off.

Naruto, seeing that his opponent's concentration was faltering, quickly took Haku's leg and threw her towards a nearby tree. When her back slammed onto the tree, Naruto summoned chakra on his right hand and created the jutsu he was famous for. His mind still clouded with rage, he screamed out loud in the area, which was heard by everyone present.

"**I'll kill you for hurting her!"** His voice was filled with anger, scaring everyone that heard him. Rasengan in hand, he charged at Haku, intending to kill her. Just then, a pair of arms clasped around him before he could deal the fatal attack. He then heard a voice which he recognized quickly.

"N-Naruto-kun, p-please, no more." Hinata's voice was filled with concern. Naruto felt his cloak getting wet. She was crying. It hit him hard, knowing that he was the reason she was crying. Hinata was concerned for his well being. Naruto then dispersed his Rasengan as the red chakra enveloping him started to fade. He turned around and hugged Hinata, telling her that everything is fine, and that he won't let anything happen to her again. Hinata was relieved that her Naruto-kun was back to normal. Both of them returned their gaze to the tree where Haku was slammed at. They saw that she was incapable of fighting any more. Both of them relaxed after seeing that.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zabuza wasn't faring well. Not only did Haku lose, he was having trouble with the two jounin that were attacking him. At this rate, he would lose too. Kakashi and Kurenai decided to finish it now knowing that Zabuza's teammate was defeated. Kurenai did a set of handseals and performed her signature technique.

'_Magen: Jubaku Satsu!'_ A tree appeared beneath Zabuza. It then trapped him in one of its branches. Zabuza was struggling to break free, but it was useless. Kakashi, upon seeing the state Zabuza was in, performed his own set of handseals.

"Raikiri!" A large mass of chakra appeared at Kakashi's left hand. Kakashi then ran at Zabuza, intending to finish him off right now. As he thrust his arm at the trapped ninja, someone appeared in front of his target, absorbing part of the lethal blow. Kakashi was still able to thrust his arm even further and hit Zabuza with what was left of his sole original technique. The person coughed up some blood and looked at Zabuza. Zabuza immediately recognized who this person was.

"Haku, why?" Kurenai released her genjutsu upon seeing this unexpected turn of events.

"Zabuza-sama, without you, my life is nothing. I hope I have served you well." Haku then fell to the ground. She was dead. Just then, a new voice was heard around the area. A lot of people appeared, being led by someone in the middle. It was Gatou.

"Looks like the demon of the mist couldn't handle a bunch of ninja." Gatou had a smirk on his face. A smirk which infuriated Zabuza even more.

"Gatou, what are you doing here? And why did you bring them?"

"I never intended on paying you. Hiring shinobi is very expensive. You couldn't finish the job anyway. That goes for your bitch too." His smirk widened even more. Zabuza was clearly mad. He was going to die from Kakashi's jutsu, but he wasn't going down alone. With what was left of his energy, he took his large sword and threw it at the rich man. Gatou wasn't able to move fast enough to dodge the incoming weapon. Zabuza smiled knowing that he had killed Gatou.

"I'll see you in hell, bastard." With that, Zabuza lost his life and fell over. Gatou's thugs didn't take this very well.

"Hey! Our meal ticket just died. Now, we have to satisfy ourselves by raiding the village!" Before they were even able to move, a kunai was thrown at the group. It landed next to the feet of the person who spoke. When they looked at the distance, what they saw scared them.

Inari, along with the rest of the village, came to the bridge all armed with makeshift weapons and home supplies. They were intent on defending their village against the thugs. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the thugs ran away, clearly wanting to live. The villagers cheered knowing that they weren't under the control of Gatou and his men any more. Together, they helped the exhausted Konoha ninja back to the village.

* * *

Naruto and the group had just left Wave country. They spent a day there to rest before they left. During that day, the bridge had been completed. Everyone thought of a name for the bridge, before Inari offered his opinion. In honor of the person that showed him the light, Inari suggested the bridge be called 'The Great Naruto Bridge'. The villagers were okay with it, and it was called just that. Tazuna was just crying tears upon knowing that the bridge had already been named. He had wanted to call it 'The Super Awesome Bridge Tazuna Made'.

The villagers had seen the group of ninja off. They wanted to show their appreciation for the people that saved their country from a corrupt man. The leaf-nin then left the country, happy that the mission was complete.

When they were out of sight of the villagers, Naruto summoned a fox big enough to carry both him and Hinata. Naruto picked her up and placed her on the fox. He then took his spot behind her and hugged her from behind. Needless to say, Hinata blushed at his actions. The rest of the group just stared at the couple, each having their own thoughts.

"Hey, why don't you summon some foxes for us to ride on too?" Kiba decided to express his thoughts out loud. Sakura agreed with the boy, she wanted to ride on a fox instead of walking all the way back to Konoha. Naruto decided to answer his question and tease Hinata a bit as well.

"Sorry, girlfriend's perks." Hinata blushed even more upon hearing this. Kakashi decided to have the last laugh with the comment he had in mind.

"You know that we have to tell the hokage about your ability to summon foxes, right Naruto?" Naruto then realized the mess that he had made. When he got back, the hokage was going to have a long talk with him about this.

"Crap." Kiba, Sakura, Kakashi, and Kurenai just laughed at his predicament.

* * *

Hello everyone. Once again, I'm sorry for taking a long time with this chapter. I had a small writer's block. Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to answer a few more reviews to clear things up.

_Tashio_ – Those who reach jounin and up are informed of Naruto's secrets. Arashi had to be protected from those that want him dead or alive. Not only does he have to be protected from Iwa, he has to be protected from Akatsuki as well. (Remember, Orochimaru knows who he is, and he joined Akatsuki for some time.)

_Monks1_ – Actually, he remembers his past life. In chapter 1, it said that Sarutobi told Naruto about everything when he was capable of understanding. Anything that Naruto didn't understand would have been cleared up by the Kyuubi. During his first talk with the fox, he addressed Naruto as 'Yondaime'. Naruto would have asked about that if he didn't know who he was.

These next sets of responses are also posted in chapter 3.

_Dragon Man 180_ – I edited the chapter as you requested. I realized my huge error and changed it immediately. Thanks for noticing it.

_rasengan86_ – The cloak he is wearing is different from his past one. I assumed that the white one with red flames was the standard hokage robes. The new one doesn't say Yondaime Hokage on the back; it would cause too much chaos if it did.

* * *

**Jutsu List** (Thanks to Wikipedia for the explanations)

_Kirigakure no Jutsu_ - Hiding Mist Technique. This jutsu envelops the surrounding area in a dense mist, reducing visibility within the affected area. The density can be controlled by the user, allowing them to create a mist so thick that even they can't see through it.

_Jutsu Sho_ – Technique Neutralize. This jutsu cancels or impedes the occuring of the opponent's technique. It uses the same amount of chakra as the jutsu it intends to cancel.

_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu_ – Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique. This jutsu is used to fire a massive spiraling blast of water at an opponent.

_Suiton: Suijinheki_ – Water Release: Water Encampment Wall. This jutsu creates a water barrier to protect the user from any offensive attacks.

_Suirou no Jutsu_ – Water Prison Technique. This jutsu is used to trap a victim inside a virtually inescapable sphere of water. The only downside to this technique is that the user must keep at least one arm inside the sphere at all times in order for the victim to remain imprisoned.

_Doton: Retsudotenshou_ – Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm. This technique causes the ground surrounding the enemy to spiral inwards on itself, burying them alive or crushing them.

_Rasengan_ – Spiraling Sphere. The user creates ball of concentrated, spinning chakra in the user's hand that is slightly larger than a baseball. The Spiraling Sphere requires no hand seals to perform, instead relying entirely on the chakra control of the user. Once the user creates a stable Spiraling Sphere, however, it becomes self-sustaining, so the user does not need to provide any more chakra after forming it. The force of the spinning chakra grinds into whatever it touches, causing major damage. The force of the attack also causes significant internal injury. The user can also release the spinning chakra, creating a violent explosive force at the point of contact.

_Magen: Jubaku Satsu_ – Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death. With this jutsu, the user can make themselves disappear, allowing them to approach their target unnoticed. Once completed, a tree and roots will grow at the target's feet and restrict their movements. Once the opponent believes that they are captured, the user can then appear above their opponent from the tree's trunk and kill the target.

_Raikiri_ – Lightning Edge. This jutsu is an enhanced form of the One Thousand Birds (Chidori), and has the same, albeit more powerful, effect. This jutsu channels a large amount of chakra into the user's arm. The amount of chakra is so great that it becomes visible to the naked eye. The technique actually alters the nature of the user's chakra, effectively converting it into electricity. Once the technique is completed, the user charges forward and stabs their enemy with it. The amount of thrust combined with the large concentration of chakra allows the user to stab through almost anything; as such it is usually fatal to the enemy.

* * *

Here's the preview for the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

"_What's your name?" Gaara asked the blond, impressed with his power._

"_Uzumaki Naruto." The red haired __ninja then replied with his name._

"_Sabaku no Gaara. I'll see you in the chuunin exam." As Gaara left, Naruto spoke one last sentence before leaving to continue his date with Hinata._

"_Gaara, tell Shukaku to come out and play. A fox will be waiting for him." This shocked the three sand genin. How did he know about Shukaku? Before they could ask him, he had disappeared along with the girl he was with._


	6. Chuunin Exam: Part One

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

"**Text"** – Kyuubi speaking

'_**Text'**_ – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Five: Chuunin Exam, Part One**

'_That took long enough.'_

That was what a certain blond was thinking after explaining his ability to summon foxes to the current hokage. He didn't even know why he had to explain it. Sarutobi already knew of the fact that Kyuubi, the lord of foxes, had nothing against Konoha. He understood why Kakashi would worry about it though; he didn't know that fact. He then went to his room at the hokage tower to rest.

'_That Kakashi, always giving me a headache, even back then when he was hours late on our team meetings. Anyway, now that that's over, I'll rest for a while. Even with a fox to ride on, the trip back took a long time.'_ Naruto then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

(Team 8 training grounds, the next day)

Team 8 was waiting for their jounin instructor to arrive. Shino was tending to his bugs while Naruto had been teaching Hinata another water technique, Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu. Since there was no water nearby, Naruto was only teaching her the handseals and chakra molding portion of the technique. Half an hour later, Kurenai arrived and told her team of their duties for the day.

"Team 8, we have another mission." Naruto was happy that they had another mission soon after they were finished with the recent A-rank one. He wouldn't be happy as soon as he knew what this mission was.

"Unfortunately, we're off to look for Tora again." All of them just groaned in disappointment. Wanting to get the mission out of the way, they went to the usual places where the cat hid from its owner. Team 8 had gotten used to Tora to the point where they could find the cat in minutes, which is why they got this mission over and over again.

With the help of Hinata's Byakugan, team 8 found Tora hiding in a thick pile of bushes near an unused training ground. Naruto quickly used shunshin to appear behind the cat and grabbed it before it could flee. They then returned it to its owner who was pleased to see her pet back once again. As soon as the cat left Naruto's hands, team 8 quickly left the house, not wanting to deal with Tora any further than they had to.

After reporting to the hokage that their mission is complete, team 8 returned to their training grounds. Kurenai was teaching Shino a simple genjutsu that hides the scent of his bugs while Naruto continued teaching Hinata the water clone technique. When Kurenai called it a day, team 8 went their separate ways. Naruto was walking Hinata home; he wanted to talk to Hiashi about some things.

When they reached the Hyuuga compound, Hinata was curious as to why Naruto was walking with her inside. When she asked him about it, he simply told her that he wanted to talk to her father. When they reached the clan head's room, Naruto knocked on the door. The person inside called out for him to enter. Naruto did, and closed the door. Instead of going to her room, Hinata waited outside the door and listened in on the conversation.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Hiashi." Said Naruto as he took a seat next to where the Hyuuga head was.

"Don't worry Arashi, you aren't." was the reply he had.

Hinata, who had been listening in, was confused by what her father said. _'Why did father call Naruto-kun Arashi? What's going on?'_ Unable to think clearly after hearing that, she quietly went to her room, intending to talk to Naruto about this the next time they saw each other.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I want to take Hinata-chan as my apprentice." Hiashi was surprised at what the blond said. He certainly was not expecting this. Taking some time to think it over, the Hyuuga head considered the possibilities of this. If Hinata was to be trained by the Yondaime, she would quickly become a formidable kunoichi and a worthy heiress. She would be strong enough to lead the Hyuuga clan successfully when he stepped down as leader. Hiashi could not think of a reason as to why he should disagree with this, so he allowed Naruto to take his daughter as his apprentice.

"I allow you to take Hinata as your apprentice. I'd like to know why you chose her though."

"Hinata-chan shows great potential. During our mission on Wave, I taught her Suirou no Jutsu. She learned the technique in a week. By taking her as my apprentice, she can become even stronger. With her progress, she'll be a threat in the upcoming chuunin exam." Hiashi agreed with his best friend. However, he thought that Arashi had other motives. He decided to ask him about it.

"Are you sure it isn't just because you want to spend more time with her?" Hiashi asked him with a smirk on his face, as if he was teasing him. Naruto blushed at the Hyuuga head's question. That had been part of the reason why he wanted to take her in.

"Well, yeah." Hiashi had a short laugh due to his best friend's state of embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I approve. When are you telling Hinata about her training?"

"I'll tell Hinata-chan when I'm chuunin. By that time, I'll be ready to tell her who I really am." Naruto then noticed that it was getting dark outside. "I have to go, it's getting late. Thank you for allowing this."

"No problem." With that, Naruto left the compound.

* * *

(Team 8 training grounds)

After being told by Kurenai that they're included in the chuunin exam and being given time off until after the exams, team 8 spent the day training in order to prepare. Shino went home to find other colonies he can use, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone. They had been continuing their progress with Hinata's water clone technique. Hinata had been having trouble with the jutsu. She was still thinking about what her father had called Naruto yesterday. Because of that, her concentration wasn't fully present and it had been halting her progress. Naruto noticed her lack of concentration and decided to take a short break.

"Hinata-chan, we're taking a break. I noticed that something is troubling you to the point that you can't concentrate on the technique. Let's go eat lunch." Hinata seemed relieved by hearing that last part, she was exhausted and a lunch break was much appreciated.

"Hai Naruto-kun, I wanted to talk to you anyway." They took out their respective lunches and ate them.

"Hinata-chan, what did you want to talk about?" This was it, she was about to ask him a question that Naruto had never thought about being asked this soon.

"Yesterday, when you talked to father, I overheard him calling you 'Arashi'. What's going on?" Naruto stopped eating his packed ramen as it slid back down on the container. He was shocked, he didn't expect this. He wasn't ready to tell her the truth about himself just yet; it might jeopardize what they already have. He was going to tell her someday, but not now. He wasn't ready.

"Hinata-chan, I want to answer your question, but not now." His answer stunned her. Why was he reluctant to answer her question? Was it a touchy subject for him? Was he hiding something? The possibilities were endless, and they seemed to increase even further.

"Why not? I want to understand, Naruto-kun. What's going on?" Even with her reply, he still couldn't tell her about both of his secrets. Secrets that could put himself and the rest of Konoha in danger.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, but I cannot tell you. I can't tell anyone just yet. I'm not ready. Maybe later, but not now." Hinata was satisfied with the fact that he would answer her question someday. She could see that he wasn't ready to reveal the truth. They continued eating their lunch in silence. As soon as they were finished, the two ninja continued training.

* * *

(The next day)

Naruto and Hinata went on a date instead of training. Hinata had mastered the jutsu after having been assured that he would answer her question in the future. Naruto took her out on a date to congratulate her for learning yet another jutsu from him. In the middle of their date, they heard a cry for help that sounded like it came from a young boy. Curious, Naruto and Hinata went to where the loud cry came from. They saw the third's grandson being held upside-down by some guy in black that had a sand forehead protector. There was also a yellow-haired girl with the same forehead protector. Naruto could sense a third person nearby, but decided to help the boy first before dealing with that.

"What do you think you're doing with the boy?" The sand-nin looked at the newcomer and the girl with him. Kankuro decided to answer his question as well as intimidate a couple of local ninja that might be in the exam.

"The runt ran into me. I don't like brats who run into me. Maybe a few bruises will teach him a lesson." As Kankuro got ready to hit Konohamaru, Naruto said something that made him stop.

"You realize that you were just about to harm the grandson of the hokage, right?"

"So what? What are you going to do about it?" Kankuro raised his fist, ready to hit the kid he was holding. Before he could, Naruto flared his demonic chakra, which scared both sand-nin and the third person that was watching them nearby. Hinata was scared as well. The last time she felt this chakra, Naruto was about to kill someone. She hoped that wouldn't be the case this time.

'_His chakra is like Gaara's! Does that mean he has a demon inside of him as well?' _was the thought of the two sand-nin.

"If you harm him, we'll be forced to take action." Wanting to be spared from a jinchuuriki's wrath, Kankuro let go of Konohamaru, who immediately ran away from the scene. Satisfied with what happened, Naruto absorbed the red chakra back, sensing that he was scaring Hinata as well. He then remembered that there was a third person nearby. Kyuubi decided to inform him of who this person was.

'_**The person that you are sensing is a demon carrier as well.'**_

'_He has a demon inside him as well? Which one?' _Kyuubi took a moment sensing the nature of the person's chakra before replying.

'_**I think it's Shukaku, the one-tailed raccoon. He's the weakest of the tailed demons. Even though he's the weakest, he can destroy a village if he wanted to. Be careful around his carrier.'**_ Satisfied with the fox's answer, Naruto called the fellow jinchuuriki out.

"I know there's someone with you watching us. Why don't you come out from where you're hiding?" Just then, a red haired shinobi with a gourd on his back appeared in front of the two sand-nin. Kankuro and Temari were shocked. This person sensed Gaara. The newcomer decided to speak.

"Kankuro, you're an embarrassment to our village." Kankuro tried to come back with a reply.

"It's not my fault! The brat ran into me!" Gaara had had enough of his brother's ramblings.

"Shut up or I'll kill you!" Kankuro immediately followed. He knew when Gaara was serious. Gaara then spoke to the man that called him out.

"What's your name?" Gaara asked the blond, impressed with his power.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The red haired ninja then replied with his name.

"Sabaku no Gaara. I'll see you in the chuunin exam." As Gaara left, Naruto spoke one last sentence before leaving to continue his date with Hinata.

"Gaara, tell Shukaku to come out and play. A fox will be waiting for him." This shocked the three sand genin. How did he know about Shukaku? Before they could ask him, he had disappeared along with the girl he was with.

* * *

(Ichiraku ramen)

Naruto was continuing his date with Hinata. After he spoke that last sentence, he grabbed her and used shunshin to get both of them away before Hinata suspected something.

"Naruto-kun, who's Shukaku? And what did you mean by a fox will be waiting?" Too late.

'_Damn. How do I tell her that Shukaku is a demon and that I was referring to Kyuubi?'_ Once again, the fox decided to help his container out.

'_**Tell her that Shukaku is the boss summon for the raccoons and that you were referring to the boss summon of the foxes. After all, she knows that you can summon foxes.'**_ Naruto decided to take Kyuubi's advice. After all, it has never failed him.

"Naruto-kun?" He had spaced out in front of Hinata because he had been talking to the fox.

"Hinata-chan, Shukaku is the raccoon boss summon. Shukaku has control over sand. I sensed that Gaara can summon raccoons because of the gourd on his back had grains of sand on it. As for the fox comment, I was referring to the boss summon of the foxes. Now let's just enjoy the rest of our date." Naruto wanted the conversation to stop; he didn't want to tell her that Kyuubi was the boss summon for foxes. That would lead to him revealing one of his two secrets. Thankfully for him, Hinata agreed with him and resumed their date without going back to that subject.

A few minutes into part two of their date, Kurenai appeared and asked them if they were preparing for the chuunin exam. She also told them that Shino was already preparing so they don't have to worry about him. Naruto didn't react to this news, but Hinata was nervous. Was she good enough to even participate in the exams? Naruto realized her state of anxiety and decided to comfort her.

"Hinata-chan, what did I tell you before about the chuunin exam?" The young Hyuuga tried to remember, but she couldn't think of anything. When she took some time to answer, Naruto decided to answer the question for her. "I told you that we would be on top of the competition, remember? Don't worry about the exam, it'll be easy." With that comment alone, Hinata didn't feel nervous anymore. She would be with Naruto for the entire exam. She wanted to impress him by meeting his expectations.

Kurenai knew the danger of the chuunin exam. Even if Arashi had been in it before, she couldn't say the same for Hinata. She then realized that Naruto would not let any harm come to his team, even if he had to reveal his abilities to them. She then left them, letting the two continue their meal.

* * *

(Time skip, first day of chuunin exams)

This was it. It was time for the chuunin exams. Genin teams from all countries would be here competing for the title of chuunin. Naruto left his cloak at home for the duration of the exam. He didn't want anyone there, especially the Iwa-nin, to recognize him. He then made his way to the venue; he would meet up with his team there.

Team 8 entered the venue and made their way up the steps to the third floor, each of them having set their own goals in the exam. A commotion on the second floor stopped them from reaching their destination.

"This exam is tough. You should back out now when you have the chance." Naruto was not having any of this.

"Stop scaring the contenders and drop that horrible genjutsu. We're still in the second floor." Angered that their fun was over, the two chuunin disguised as genin removed said genjutsu on the sign. Team 8 continued on until they reached the real third floor. Their jounin instructor Kurenai had been waiting here for her team to arrive. She wished them luck and allowed them to pass.

Team 8 just looked on at the amount of shinobi taking the exam. There were a lot of them, mostly from Konoha. All the other shinobi villages were represented as well. Before they could examine the competition even further, a loud voice which sounded like Kiba's was heard around the room, announcing the arrival of his team. Kiba then looked around and saw the rest of the rookie nine in the room as well.

"Looks like everyone's here." The rest of the rookie nine just gathered on one spot of the room, talking about recent events. Along the way, Naruto spotted Gaara and his team. He then decided to inform his friends about him, it could mean the difference between living and dying.

"You see that sand team over there?" The rest of the rookie nine except Hinata just nodded their heads. "Avoid them at all costs, especially the one with the gourd. His name is Gaara, and he will not hesitate to kill you." The less competitive members of the rookie nine just gulped. Another voice cut in, this time from someone else outside the group of nine.

"Would all of you just do everyone a favor and shut the hell up?" A silver haired ninja walked towards the group, clearly irritated by the group's discussions.

"And who would you be?" Kiba was the one to ask this question. He was already annoyed that this man interrupted their group talk.

"Yakushi Kabuto. All of you need to look around." When the rookie nine did so, they felt the killing intent coming from the other teams. Except for Naruto and Sasuke, the group shivered at the amount of killing intent thrown at them. Naruto wasn't happy with the fact that they were intimidating his friends, especially Hinata. He then flared his chakra and released his own killing intent which was greater than the ones thrown at the group. Everyone was scared at the blond's reaction, including the rest of the rookie nine and even Gaara. Kabuto decided to shake off his fears and speak up.

"What are you rookies doing here anyway? This exam isn't a field trip." Realizing that the silver haired ninja didn't mean any harm, Naruto dropped his killing intent and recalled his chakra. The rest of the room just sighed in relief. Sakura decided to initiate a conversation with the newcomer.

"Kabuto-san, you seem to know a lot about this exam. Is this your second time?"

"It's my seventh, actually. Being here for a long time has gathered me quite a lot of information to study." Kabuto then pulled out a deck of shinobi info cards. "These cards show a ninja's talents and missions. Why don't you try them out?"

Sasuke decided to step up, wanting to know what to expect from the other contenders. "Do you have any information on Gaara of the sand and Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto looked at the Uchiha, curious as to why he wanted to know about him.

"You know their names already? That makes it easier." Kabuto pulled out a card from the deck and pushed chakra into it. "Sabaku no Gaara, genin from the sand. Chakra levels are quite high for a genin. He has been on 20 D-rank missions, 8 C-rank missions, and a B-rank mission. Impressive, not many genins get assigned anything above C. Other things to know about him are that he has returned from every mission without a scratch." Taking another card and pushing chakra into it like before, he read the details on the other ninja in question.

"Uzumaki Naruto of the leaf. His real name has been withheld, it seems to be blocked." This confused the rookie nine, except Hinata and Naruto himself. _'What did he mean by real name?'_ Naruto was a bit agitated at hearing that, he didn't want Kabuto spreading his secrets around.

Kabuto then continued reading out the details, Naruto unable to stop him from doing so. "His chakra levels are off the charts! They're practically kage level!" This shocked all of the chuunin hopefuls in the room, including the rest of the rookie nine, even Hinata. Naruto decided that Kabuto knew too much. Using shunshin, he appeared next to Kabuto and took the shinobi info card away from his hands. He quickly burned the card to the point that not even the ashes were found.

"You know too much. You better hope that I won't find you during the exam. I'll kill you on sight." As much as Naruto didn't want to kill people for personal reasons, Kabuto was a threat to the safety of both of his secrets. Before any of his friends could ask Naruto about what the silver haired ninja said, a rough voice was heard by everyone in the room.

"Alright you lousy bastards! Calm down and listen up!" Ibiki just chose that moment to show up and start the first exam.

* * *

Hello everyone, here's chapter 5. The chuunin exam arc will compose of 3 chapters, this being part one. I'm going to answer some reviews now; I've received a few interesting ones.

_larsbars08 _– Naruto was not having trouble with Haku. He never even got hurt in that fight. Besides, he couldn't show too much of his abilities. He didn't want anyone getting suspicious.

_Akira Stridder_ – His emotional attachment to Hinata caused him to get angry like that. Even if he has training on holding emotional pain, he is rather overprotective of Hinata. He has to be; if anyone ever found out who he is, they'll go for his weakness, which is his girlfriend. And because they already are in a relationship, leaving her would hurt her too much. It would hurt him too if he was the cause of her pain. He'll take his chances with his enemies, especially because he will be there to protect her.

_RasenganFin_ – He will be lecturing Kakashi when he sees him teaching Sasuke the Chidori.

_Tashio_ – Physically, he looks like the young Yondaime with the addition of the whisker marks. I forgot to put them in the kyuubified transformation scene. His outside appearance can be seen in chapter 3: Team Dynamics.

_AkumaRule_ – This is a rather lengthy review, so I'll break it up into parts.

Regarding the whole pedophile thing, think about Naruto's romance options. Should he go for someone in his 'new' age group and have a few people (only jounin and up) think of him badly, or should he go for someone in his 'real' age group such as Kurenai and have everyone else (chuunin and below, plus villagers) think of the girl badly? He'll always place his girl first, then himself. Also, of course there will be obstacles. It would be too boring if there were none.

He didn't hesitate in having a relationship with Hinata because in his mind, he is once again in his early teens. Try to think of it as 'Arashi going back in time', just without the knowledge of the future. For the reasons stated in the paragraph above, he chose to go for someone in his 'new' age group. He will push through a real relationship and fight for it instead of going for one that conforms to others' standards.

Regarding his actions, I admit you have me there. I don't know much about how Arashi acts, so I based it partially off the real Naruto's character, with more rational thought instead of just pure action. After all, like father like son. Of course, Arashi didn't have the entire village hate him, so there may be a few flaws. I'll try to find and repair those flaws in my spare time.

_CrimsonCat101 and Dragon Man 180_ – Thank you for noticing that I mistakenly wrote that Kabuto's hair was blue. I changed it to silver.

* * *

No jutsu list today, the few jutsus that were mentioned in this chapter are already explained in previous chapters and are simple enough that a recap isn't required.

* * *

Here's the preview for the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

_Naruto and his team were the second to arrive at the tower, with Gaara's team being first. Because of this, they have a lot of time to recuperate and prepare for the next round. His teammates would need the extra time to get ready if they wanted to become chuunin. His thoughts went aside as he saw a couple of teams enter the tower. Both team 7 and team 10 entered the tower at the same time. What he saw next shocked him._

_Sasuke had a cursed seal on his neck. That could only mean one thing: Orochimaru was involved in this exam._


	7. Chuunin Exam: Part Two

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

**"Text"** – Kyuubi speaking, Shukaku speaking

**'_Text'_** – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Six: Chuunin Exam, Part Two**

Ibiki and his entourage of chuunin explained the rules to the participating genin. When everything was crystal clear to the genin, Ibiki motioned them to enter the examination room. Seats were assigned at random for everyone. When Naruto took his seat, he was happy to see Hinata seated beside him. Hinata was happy to see him as well. As soon as everyone was seated, the chuunin handed out the questionnaires and started the first exam.

Naruto was answering the questions without any problems. After all, he was once hokage. Being hokage meant that you had to know plenty of things. Once he was finished with the first nine questions, he took a peek at Hinata to see how she was doing. When he saw Hinata with her Byakugan activated, he knew that she wouldn't have any trouble at all.

"Number 20, you're out of here! 36 and 78, you're gone too." One of them was stupid enough to blatantly look at his seatmate's paper. One of Ibiki's chuunins didn't wait for him to cheat 4 more times. He was so obvious that there was no way he would avoid getting caught again anyway.

Everyone else then noticed the true purpose of the exam. Gaara used his sand to look at another's paper. Sasuke activated his Sharingan to copy the hand movements of various people. Akamaru was barking out loud, obviously he was telling Kiba the answers. Shino was using his bugs to obtain information. Sakura and Shikamaru were smart enough to not require assistance. Shikamaru then took control of Chouji and wrote the answers for him. Ino was looking for someone smart to take control of so she can get answers. Her eyes then spotted Naruto.

'_Looks like Naruto is finished with the test. He must be smart if he has kage level chakra. He is rookie of the year after all. Maybe I should take control of him instead of forehead girl.'_ She then got ready and used her Shintenshin no Jutsu to control Naruto. Naruto just slumped in his seat, losing consciousness due to Ino's jutsu.

When Ino arrived at Naruto's mindscape, she took a look around to sense her surroundings. When she looked behind her, she wasn't expecting a giant cage. She then freaked out when she saw a pair of red slitted eyes look back at her.

**"Hello little girl, it's a pleasure to have you here. I haven't had any visitors for quite some time."** When Ino heard a voice that sounded demonic in nature, she immediately cancelled her jutsu, wanting to get away from anything that sounded like that.

**"Not even a minute and she left already. Too bad, I wanted someone to talk to. Oh well, I guess I'll just talk to Arashi when he's alone."**

Ino woke up from her jutsu panting and sweating. _'What the hell was that?'_ Shikamaru saw her state of fear and got curious. He took control of Ino's shadow for a while and wrote on her paper, telling her to calm down and control herself. After a few seconds, he released his hold on her. Ino calmed down and looked for someone else to control. She spotted the red haired shinobi that Naruto told the rookie nine to avoid. Not heeding his warning, she then took control of him, hoping to get answers without any trouble.

Once she arrived at Gaara's mindscape, she was caught in a sandstorm. _'Weird. Why is there a sandstorm in someone's head?'_ Her questions were answered when the ground shook behind her. She took a look back and saw a large figure made out of sand approaching her. She then shook in fear once again, even more so when she heard the figure speak.

**"Come here little girl, I'm going to KILL YOU!"** For the second time that day, she was forced to dispel her jutsu without getting what she wanted. She was panting even more than before. Shikamaru saw this and decided to take control of her and answer the test for her. She was obviously not in the state of mind to do it herself.

'_What a troublesome woman. She better not scream at me after this.'_

After 45 minutes had passed, Ibiki then announced to the room that it was time for the tenth and final question. Everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention.

"Alright, this is how the last question will go. Before I give you the questions, I will give you the chance to back out and leave right now." This confused the genin in the room. Temari decided to speak up.

"Why would we want to leave? This is our chance to become chuunin!" Ibiki just smirked and answered her question.

"Because if you decide to take this question and get it wrong, you will never become a chuunin. You will remain a genin for the rest of your shinobi career." Most of the genin just panicked at hearing this. Some were having doubts about their capabilities. A person just stood up and left, which forced the rest of his team to leave as well. A few seconds later, another team left, clearly not willing to risk it. Other teams were leaving by the minute.

Hinata was having doubts about herself. She didn't think she could answer the last question. Wanting to save her chances of being promoted, she moved to raise her hand and leave. Naruto saw this however, and took her hand midway, preventing her from raising it completely. Hinata looked at him, wanting to know why he did that.

"Don't leave." Hinata saw the look on his face. Naruto was completely confident. Hinata then realized that her team would fail if she left. More importantly, Naruto would fail if she left. She didn't want to be the reason for his failure. She then put her hand back down, wanting to take the final question not for herself, but for Naruto. Ibiki saw the whole thing happen.

"Why did you prevent her from leaving? If she thinks she can't answer the question, let her leave and have another chance in the future. If she fails to answer this, she'll never become a chuunin." Naruto knew very well that what he said wasn't true. He decided to answer his question, knowing that nobody would leave once he did.

"That's a lie. First of all, only a kage can prevent anyone from moving up in rank." The rest of the genin looked at him and then at Ibiki, wanting to know who was telling the truth. Naruto decided to continue. "Also, I have faith in Hinata-chan. She'll get through this no matter what." Hinata looked at him in shock. He believed in her to the point that he would risk being a genin forever. Not wanting to disappoint him, she decided that she would not leave, even if she was forced to.

The rest of the genin regained their confidence after hearing that. Nobody was leaving the room after Naruto had spoke up. After 5 minutes had passed, Ibiki decided to end the test. _'Leave it to Arashi to figure out the hidden meaning.'_

"Since nobody wants to leave, I'll give out the last question now. For the rest of you remaining… All of you pass the first exam." The remaining genin except for Naruto just looked at him in total disbelief. Before any of them could say anything, the window shattered and a woman wearing a trenchcoat appeared.

"I'm the proctor for the second exam. The name's Mitarashi Anko." She took a quick count of the remaining participants. "78… Ibiki, you let 26 teams pass? You're getting soft."

"There are a lot of good ones this year." This made Anko smirk. She would have more fun with the next test.

"Don't worry; I'll cut them in half with the next exam." Most of the remaining genin just gulped. A lot of people were going to fail the next exam for sure.

* * *

(Outside the forest of death) 

"Okay you little brats, this is training area 44, also known as the forest of death." This scared some genin already. Anko then pulled out two scrolls from her pockets. "For your next exam, your task is to get these. This is a heaven scroll, and the other is an earth scroll. Each team will have one scroll at the start. Using any means necessary, you must get the opposite scroll from other teams and bring both scrolls to the tower in the middle within 5 days. Any questions?" Nothing happened. Anko then pulled out a bunch of papers. "Seeing as there doesn't seem to be any questions, all of you need to sign these waiver forms. I don't want to be held responsible for your deaths. Trade your team's forms for a scroll and go to your starting point." As soon as everyone had their scrolls, Anko announced that the second exam has officially started.

Team 8 quickly advanced through the forest, intending to grab an earth scroll as quick as possible. They couldn't find any team nearby. After an hour of searching to no avail, Naruto was getting restless.

"Why aren't there any teams nearby? Are they avoiding us on purpose or something?" Shino decided to answer his teammate's question.

"They are avoiding us on purpose. Remember what Kabuto said about you having chakra levels equivalent to that of a kage? The rest of the teams are scared of you." Naruto then remembered that he had to kill Kabuto for knowing too much. He decided to concentrate on the exam first and kill Kabuto the next time he sees him. After all, if Kabuto had obtained that information, he had to be strong enough to pass this exam.

"I guess so. Let's take a break for a while." His team agreed with this and took a break as well. Gathering what food they have, they decided to split it amongst themselves. They had a problem with the water though. They only had 2 containers of water. Naruto thought of a solution to this.

"We only have 2 water canteens. Shino can have one since he has to provide for his bugs as well. Hinata-chan and I can share the other canteen. Is that alright with both of you?" Both of them agreed with this. Shino finished his share and then left the two to gather water for his bugs. He had other reasons for his departure though.

Naruto took a drink out of one of the containers. When he was done, he handed it to Hinata who took it from his hand. Her face started to take on a light shade of red as the thought of an indirect kiss came into mind. Mustering up some courage, she took a drink at the same spot where Naruto took his. Her face then took a darker shade of red as she officially had an indirect kiss with Naruto. Naruto noticed this and decided to ask her about it.

"Hinata-chan, why are you blushing?"

"Umm Naruto-kun, I realized that we had an indirect kiss…" Naruto had a blush of his own upon hearing that. Before they could talk about it further, Shino arrived. He left them to think about how to ask Naruto about the information on his shinobi info card. He returned when he couldn't think of a plan and decided to ask Naruto directly.

"Naruto, what did Kabuto mean when he said that your real name was blocked? Also, how do you have chakra levels equal to that of a kage?" Hinata stopped blushing and paid attention. Was this the time she would find out the answers to her questions from him?

Naruto was expecting the question this time. Kabuto let out more than anyone should know about him. He thought of a response beforehand in case anyone asked him about that.

"I'm sorry, that's S-class information only revealed to jounin level and above ninja of Konoha. I can't reveal that information to both you just yet. When I'm ready, I promise I'll tell you. After all, you are my teammates." Shino wasn't satisfied with this, but he decided to let go of the topic for now. He can see that Naruto wasn't ready to reveal this information to anyone right now. Hinata didn't react to this as well. Naruto had promised her that she would be the first to know about it when he was ready.

"Okay, let's go. We already took long enough. We need to find that earth scroll." Team 8 then left the area in search of an earth scroll. Not long after they had left, they spotted a grass team that was taking a break of their own. Hinata activated her Byakugan to scan the surroundings.

"They seem to be taking a break. The one in the middle holds an earth scroll. What should we do?" Naruto decided to show his team what Kabuto had meant. He used shunshin to appear in front of the grass trio. They prepared for a fight, but stopped and shook in fear when they realized that Naruto was the ninja with the kage level chakra reserves that was mentioned before.

"Look, I don't want to kill you. Just hand over your earth scroll and I'll let you go peacefully." The leader threw their scroll to Naruto, smart enough to know when to flee. As soon as he threw it, the grass team turned around and ran away, not wanting to deal with a powerful ninja. Naruto just picked up the earth scroll and used shunshin to appear next to his teammates.

"I have the scroll. Let's go to the tower now before anyone else shows up." Shino and Hinata agreed with him and together they made their way to the tower. They made it without any interruptions.

* * *

Naruto and his team were the second to arrive at the tower, with Gaara's team being first. Because of this, they have a lot of time to recuperate and prepare for the next round. His teammates would need the extra time to get ready if they wanted to become chuunin. His thoughts went aside as he saw a couple of teams enter the tower. Both team 7 and team 10 entered the tower at the same time. What he saw next shocked him. 

Sasuke had a cursed seal on his neck. That could only mean one thing: Orochimaru was involved in this exam.

Naruto sat down and had a conversation with Kyuubi. The fox would be interested at hearing this.

'_Hey Kyuubi. Are you there?'_

**'_I'm here. What's going on?'_** The fox had been asleep; he didn't know anything about what happened.

'_Sasuke and his team arrived at the tower. He has a cursed seal on his neck. This might possibly mean that Orochimaru is involved.'_ At the mere mention of the snake sannin's name, Kyuubi woke up completely and got serious.

**'_If that bastard is involved, we'll be sure to find him somewhere. When you see him, give me control. I want to be the one to kill him.'_**

'_That's fine. I want to kill that bastard too, but you have more reason to kill him.'_ With their agreement settled, Naruto broke the connection with the fox and went back to the real world. As soon as he regained his vision, he saw the rest of the rookie nine staring at him.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" The looks he received were ones of confusion. When he recognized that, he already knew what they wanted to talk about.

'_Damn, I forgot about Kabuto. I'll deal with him the next time I see him.'_ His thoughts about Kabuto aside, he mentally prepared for what his friends were going to ask him. Kiba decided to speak first.

"Naruto, we've been calling you for a minute. What were you doing?" This wasn't what Naruto was expecting out of them.

'_I have to think of an excuse! Whatever pops out of my mouth first will have to be enough.'_

"I was meditating." Thankfully for him, everyone believed his lie. _'Looks like Kakashi is good for something after all. I better thank him someday.'_

"Yeah right. Anyway, all of us wanted to ask you what Kabuto meant before when he revealed the contents of the shinobi info card. What did he mean by real name?" This time it was Sakura asking the question. She could safely say that everyone wanted to know what was going on.

"Not only that, he mentioned something about you having chakra levels equivalent to a kage. How do you have that much chakra?" Sasuke was the one asking this time. He wanted to know how Naruto obtained that much chakra. He wanted to get that much chakra as well so he can fulfill his ambition of killing his brother.

Naruto was prepared to answer their questions, but not in the way intended. He would answer them the way he answered Shino earlier.

"I'm sorry, both of your questions involve an S-class secret of Konoha only revealed to jounin level and above shinobi." Sasuke wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"What do you mean only revealed to jounin and above? You're a genin! How can you possibly know this?" Sasuke was talking louder this time. He was this close to knowing how to obtain immense amounts of power, and Naruto was denying him what he wanted. He was losing control of himself because of his anger. His cursed seal was unconsciously being activated, even though it was slow. Naruto noticed this and decided to end this little group meeting.

"I know about it because those secrets are about me. You better calm down and control that cursed seal of yours before you lose control of yourself. This conversation is over. I'm leaving." With that, Naruto left the group and went to his room in the tower. Hinata followed him, she was getting concerned. Naruto always kept his cool. What could have driven him to lose his temper like that?

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Naruto noticed Hinata arrive at the room. Thankful for having someone he can have a real, calm conversation with, he answered her question truthfully.

"No Hinata-chan, I'm not. The cursed seal Sasuke obtained earlier just reminded me of the person I've sworn to kill." Hinata gasped at hearing this from him.

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" She wanted to know more.

"Remember my introduction on our first day as team 8? 'I dislike a certain snake…'" Hinata nodded at his question. "That certain snake is Orochimaru, the snake sannin who turned traitor on Konoha. He can place cursed seals on people which gives them power at the cost of their sanity. Eventually, those inflicted with the seal will go to him for power."

"Does that mean Orochimaru is involved in this exam?" Hinata was scared. If Orochimaru was somehow involved, none of the participants except for Naruto could possibly handle him.

"I suspect that he is." Naruto then pulled out one of his special kunai; the three pronged one used in his Hiraishin no Jutsu.

"Hinata-chan, take this and don't lose it. When you're in trouble, throw this at the ground in front of you. I'll be there before you know it." Hinata didn't know what he was talking about, so she just trusted him and took the kunai. She then put it in her weapons stash. Hinata then looked at Naruto who still had a downcast look on his face. Acting on her deep feelings, she walked over to him and hugged him.

"Hinata-chan, I… Thank you." Naruto just hugged her back, wanting to forget about his problems for now. He needed to concentrate on the exam and his plans on dealing with the snake. Even for just a moment, he wanted to be free of his problems and enjoy being with Hinata.

* * *

"Congratulations to all of you remaining for passing the second exam!" Anko spoke out loud to the 21 remaining genin. 7 teams had passed the second exam; they were team 7, team 8, team 10, team Gai, the sand siblings, the sound team, and Kabuto's team. Anko then continued to speak. 

"However, since there were more genins remaining than expected, we have to hold preliminary matches." A sickly looking jounin arrived and motioned for Anko to leave.

"I'm the referee for the preliminary matches, Gekkou Hayate. The rules are simple. Anything goes, but when I tell you to stop, do so." Everyone understood him completely. "If anyone wants to back out, now is your chance." To everyone's shock, especially Naruto's, Kabuto raised his hand and decided to back out.

"I'm still tired from the second exam. I won't be able to fight."

Naruto didn't like what he heard one bit. _'I can't kill him right here. There are too many people around. I'll just tell Sarutobi about him later.'_

"Very well. For the rest of you, that machine over there will show who gets to fight." As soon as he finished that sentence, the machine started to activate. It eventually stopped after a few seconds.

"The first match is between Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi." The two ninja then made their way to the arena floor.

The fight started off in favor of the Uchiha. Sasuke was using long range katon jutsu to inflict the first damage of the battle. During the middle of the fight, Yoroi managed to get close enough to suck some chakra off Sasuke. Sasuke realized what he was doing and used his Shishi Rendan to defeat the chakra-draining Yoroi. As soon as he was announced the victor, Kakashi took Sasuke away to deal with his cursed seal.

The machine once again showed two names as the next to fight. "The next match is between Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku." Naruto realized that his stoic teammate was about to have his match. He decided to wish him luck. Naruto didn't bother to give him advice; he knew that Shino would win.

Naruto was correct in his prediction. Shino used his bugs to seal up the holes in Zaku's hands. The sound-nin blew his own arms off attempting a Zankuuha. He had to be carted off by medics after that unfortunate experience. Naruto then congratulated Shino on his win.

The third match was between Tsurugi Misumi and Kankuro. Misumi's contortional body seemed to have an advantage, but it was quickly lost when he left himself open to an attack by believing that he had killed his opponent. Kankuro came out of hiding and commanded his puppet to snap Misumi's neck. The match was immediately over.

Naruto took this time to talk to Kyuubi. The matches were getting boring for him and decided that he was better off finishing up their plans on killing Orochimaru.

'_Hey Kyuubi. Have you sensed Orochimaru yet?'_

**'_Not yet Arashi. Just concentrate on passing the exam while I look him.'_**

'_I think it's better if we wait until after the preliminaries to make our move. There are a lot of people watching.'_ The fox thought otherwise.

**'_Damn it Arashi. I've waited well over a decade to finally get a shot at that bastard! I'm making a move as soon as I find him.'_** This wasn't good. The two of them spent a long time conflicting and trying to come to a compromise. Naruto was then brought back when he heard Hinata calling him.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?" She was relieved when he came to his senses.

"Naruto-kun, you're up next." The blond looked at the board and saw his name along with Kiba's. Getting a 'good luck' and a smile from Hinata, he then used shunshin to appear at the arena floor, where both Kiba and Hayate were waiting for him.

"What's wrong, were you scared to find out that you were facing me?" Kiba was cocky as usual. Underneath all that talk, it was Kiba who was scared. He remembered every bit of information that Kabuto mentioned about Naruto, or whatever his real name was. He decided to fight just to keep his pride intact.

"I was busy thinking. I'll get back to that later, we have a fight to begin." Naruto then got ready to fight. Kyuubi was busy looking for Orochimaru while this was going on. As soon as the two were ready, Hayate then announced that the match has officially begun.

Kiba was the first to make a move. He made several hand seals and announced "Shikyaku no Jutsu!" before lunging forward on all fours towards Naruto. The blond ninja simply evaded the strong but slow attack from the Inuzuka, then evaded the sudden attack by Akamaru during the middle of his sidestep. Seeing that their usual tactics weren't working, Kiba pulled out a soldier pill and tossed it to his dog who jumped up and ate it. Akamaru seemed to change and became more feral after consuming the soldier pill.

Naruto paid more attention to the fight when he noticed that the two were getting more offensive. Now that he focused more, he was evading the attacks better which eventually created an opening for Naruto to attack. Taking his chance, Naruto kicked Akamaru away from him. Kiba caught his partner and told him to prepare for their best jutsu.

"Juujin Bunshin!" Akamaru transformed into a perfect copy of Kiba. This was immediately followed by the sudden shout of "Gatsuuga!". The two then began to spin at an incredible rate and quickly made their way to the target, which was Naruto.

Naruto, knowing just how much damage this technique can deal at direct contact, applied chakra to his arms and attempted to parry the jutsu. His experience with Rasengan allowed him to spin the chakra on his arms at the opposite direction of the Gatsuuga's spinning. This helped reduce the impact of the jutsu. Naruto then successfully parried the attack and pushed both Kiba and Akamaru back just enough for him to prepare for a jutsu of his own.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa." The force of the swift explosion of wind was enough to send the Inuzuka and his animal partner back to the walls. Akamaru turned back into his original form when he was hit with the wind technique. Their heads hit the wall hard and both of them were now unconscious. Hayate was quick in announcing the winner of this match.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate then walked over to Kiba to check on his condition. Seeing that both he and Akamaru were unconscious, Hayate called for some medics to carry them away. Naruto was thankful that the fight was over and he didn't have to worry anymore. He was about to be proven wrong.

**'_I can sense that bastard! Arashi, give me control!' _**The fox wanted to finally deal with the person that killed his family. Naruto however was in the way of his revenge.

'_No, not now! There are people watching!'_ Seeing as Naruto was denying him what he wanted, Kyuubi forcefully took control of his body.

**'_I'm sorry Arashi, but you leave me no choice. This is my opportunity to fulfill my revenge. I'm taking it no matter what.'_** Naruto knew that he was losing the battle for control. With what willpower he had left, he sent one last message to the fox.

'_Just don't harm my friends…'_ With that, Naruto succumbed to the Kyuubi.

Everyone in the room looked at Naruto in shock as his transformation begun. Red chakra started pouring off the blond shinobi as his features became more foxlike. Naruto was literally screaming in pain as the Kyuubi was taking control of his body. His hands were turning into claws, his teeth became fangs, and his whisker marks were getting more defined. Most importantly, his blue eyes that normally showed compassion were now red, slitted, and promised death. Everyone in the room had mixed reactions at his transformation.

'_Naruto-kun, what's happening to you?'_ Hinata was obviously concerned for his well being. Having witnessed his conversion before and remembering their talk about Orochimaru just days ago, she came to the conclusion that Naruto had spotted the snake sannin.

'_Is his demon taking over? This should be interesting. I wonder who his target is.' _Gaara was paying attention to his fellow jinchuuriki. He has experienced this before and was curious as to how it looked like.

'_Naruto? What the hell is going on?' _The rest of the participating genin that witnessed this event were shaking in fear. _'Is this what Kabuto meant by kage level chakra reserves?'_

'_Damn it! Is the Kyuubi breaking free? We have to act now!'_ All the high ranking ninja present with the exception of the hokage were thinking this very same thought. Sarutobi decided not to do anything and simply let the fox do what he wanted, knowing that the Kyuubi didn't have anything against Konoha. He ordered all the jounin in the room to not interfere. Needless to say, this order was met with protests and arguments.

"I'll tell all of you later. Do not interfere unless I say so." All of the jounin just trusted the hokage's judgment, ready to flee if needed.

Kyuubi, with control of Arashi's body, immediately focused on where Orochimaru was standing. Even his disguise as an ordinary jounin couldn't fool the demon fox.

**"I smell a snake."** Orochimaru suddenly tensed up as Kyuubi used shunshin to appear behind the snake sannin and tossed him to the arena floor with force. Kyuubi went on the offensive almost immediately, intending on killing the snake as soon as possible. Orochimaru quickly got ready to defend himself from the wrath of the demon. He decided to insult the fox, hoping that it would blind him with anger, which would give Orochimaru an opening to escape.

"Little Arashi-kun, letting the fox take control. Do you really despise me that much?" His plan worked as the Kyuubi's attacks were getting faster and less focused.

**"You damn bastard! You killed my family! Now I'll take my revenge by killing you!"** Kyuubi was getting so relentless on his attacks that he didn't notice Orochimaru making handseals. Kyuubi got an attack to hit. His eyes widened when Orochimaru turned into mud. He had used Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu in conjunction with Kawarimi to buy himself some time. Orochimaru then disappeared in a puff of smoke, valuing his life over some information.

**"Get back here you coward!" **No response. **"DAMN YOU OROCHIMARU!"** Kyuubi then relinquished control of Naruto's body back to the blond. He was this close to killing the snake sannin. He screwed up in the end, and he only had himself to blame for that. Naruto used shunshin to get to the stands before falling to his back in exhaustion.

All of the Konoha jounin in the room were shocked. None of them sensed Orochimaru at all. They had a few questions though. Why did the fox only attack Orochimaru? What did he mean when he said that Orochimaru killed his family? They decided to ask the hokage about this after the preliminaries.

The leaf genin were no exception to this. They simple looked at Naruto in fear. He was powerful enough to force a sannin to retreat, and he lost control. Noone wanted to be near the blond right now, except for Hinata. She was worried to the point where her safety didn't even matter. Hinata ran up to Naruto and took care of him in his state of weakness.

"Hinata-chan, did I lose control again?" Hinata simply nodded at his question. Naruto took some time to rest and regain his energy, Hinata never leaving his side.

"Ahem, now that that's over, let's get back to the preliminaries. The next match is between Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji." Hinata considered dropping the fight so she can take care of Naruto.

"Go on, I'll be fine." Only with his words of encouragement did she go down to the fighting area and compete. She wouldn't let Naruto down by losing here. She then prepared for a fight against her cousin.

Naruto took this time to talk to the obviously pissed Kyuubi. He chose his words very carefully, knowing that the fox wasn't in the mood for a normal conversation.

'_Hey Kyuubi. How do you feel?'_

**'_I'm disappointed in myself. I couldn't kill him. I couldn't avenge my family.'_** The fox's voice was full of anger at not being able to complete his ambition. Naruto decided to try his best to comfort him.

'_Don't worry, we'll have other chances. We'll get him the next time we see him.'_ The Kyuubi realized that this wasn't his only chance at revenge. He didn't feel so bad anymore.

**'_Thanks Arashi, that made me feel better.' _**Silence. _**'I'm sorry for forcefully taking control of your body though.'**_

'_That's alright. Do you think you can lend me some chakra so I can stand?'_

**'_Of course.'_**

Meanwhile, Hinata wasn't doing very well. The spot where she was standing was occupied by what seemed to be her blood. She couldn't concentrate on the fight because she was worried about Naruto. Neji took advantage of her lack of concentration to deliver some Jyuuken attacks that made Hinata cough up more blood. She fell on her knees due to the pain of the attack. Naruto witnessed Neji berating Hinata, who was not making a move to get back up and continue the fight.

"Hinata-chan! What are you doing? Concentrate on the fight!" His voice served as her motivation to continue fighting. Slowly, she got up and prepared for whatever attack Neji would throw at her next.

"Stop fighting destiny and accept the fact that your fate is to lose to me." Neji was clearly trying to make her lose her confidence once more. She regained it when Naruto stood up and spoke that last sentence earlier.

"I will not back down. Come, Neji-nii-san." Neji just grunted as he ran towards Hinata, intending to finish the fight. He was confused as to why Hinata wasn't getting into the Jyuuken stance and was instead making handseals. Just before he threw his attack, Hinata finished with her technique.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" A clone of Hinata appeared in front of her and took Neji's attack.

'_How did she perform a water jutsu when there isn't any water in the arena?'_ Neji's question was answered when the clone he had attacked turned into blood. Neji was taken aback by this.

'_She used her blood as a replacement for water. I underestimated her.'_ Neji was too busy with his thoughts, which gave Hinata enough time for another jutsu.

"Suirou no Jutsu!" A prison made out of the blood on the floor was built and surrounded Neji. The Hyuuga prodigy was having difficulty breathing inside the prison. After a few seconds, he passed out. Hinata released the technique and stood there looking at her cousin.

"Winner, Hyuuga Hinata." As soon as he heard that, Naruto quickly ran towards her knowing that she used up a lot of chakra. He caught her when she was falling due to chakra exhaustion and blood loss. Borrowing some more chakra from Kyuubi, Naruto used shunshin to get to the stands. He sat down with his back to the wall and placed Hinata's head on his lap and let her lie down and rest.

"You did well, Hinata-chan. I'm proud of you." Naruto smiled at his girlfriend knowing that she did her best and it paid off. Hinata smiled back at him and closed her eyes to rest. Calling Shino over to watch over the two of them, he closed his own eyes and took a rest as well.

* * *

Naruto woke up to a loud scream. Gaara just used his sand to injure an already weak Lee. He just witnessed the power of the vessel of Shukaku. Naruto didn't want to wake Hinata up yet, so he decided to ignore the last match, which was Chouji vs Dosu, and watch over Hinata himself. After the match, the hokage wanted to talk to the winners in the arena floor, so Naruto woke up Hinata so they can be on their way. 

Sarutobi had each of the winners pick a random number out of a bag after explaining the true purpose of the chuunin exam. He said that it would determine their order and opponent for the finals. After everyone was done picking out a number, a list was presented to them, indicating the order of the matches. Each remaining genin took a long look at the list.

Match 1: Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Hinata

Match 2: Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabaku no Gaara

Match 3: Aburame Shino vs Sabaku no Kankuro

Match 4: Nara Shikamaru vs Dosu Kinuta

Match 5: Sabaku no Temari vs Match 4 winner

Sarutobi then informed them that they had one month to prepare and scout their opponents. He then wished them all luck and left. Everyone left the arena except for Naruto and Hinata. Both were still shocked that they will be facing each other in the first match of the finals.

'_I'm fighting Naruto-kun in the first round, what should I do?'_

'_Hinata-chan is my opponent. What happens now?'_

* * *

Hello everyone. This is part two of the chuunin exam arc. The next chapter will feature the one month period, the finals, and the war. I've answered a few more reviews which I hope should clear things up. 

_RasenganFin_ – I'll make sure of that.

_Tashio_ – He'll use henge to make it easier to compare to the monument. Hinata would believe him anyway.

_rasengan86_ – Kabuto found out from Orochimaru. Remember, Orochimaru heard the conversation Sarutobi had with Gamabunta back in chapter one.

_Dragon Man 180 and CrimsonCat101_ – I looked at a picture of Kabuto at four in the morning. I was getting sleepy and couldn't see very well. I thought I noticed Kabuto having light blue hair instead of the silver hair he has. I corrected the mistakes last chapter. Thanks for informing me.

_AkumaRule_ – Hiashi knows about their relationship. The reason that he isn't trying to break them up is that he realized that what the two have is genuine and it would hurt both his best friend and his daughter if he broke them up. Besides, it benefits the Hyuuga clan as well. The relationship is known by the rookie nine and their instructors, Iruka, Hiashi, Teuchi (the ramen stand old man), Ayame (the ramen stand girl), and Sarutobi. So it isn't that much of a secret at all.

_ArmorOfGeddon_ – He realized that Kabuto was a spy, but he did not know who he was working for. He had to find out that information before killing Kabuto. When he saw Sasuke with the cursed seal, he realized that he was working for Orochimaru.

_tru-viet_ – Hinata will be the first to know, that much I can tell you.

_40,000Watts_ – Arashi forbade Kakashi from performing Raikiri. Since the Chidori is essentially a weaker Raikiri, teaching it to a genin who has little experience with the Sharingan would be dangerous.

* * *

**Jutsu List** (Thanks to Wikipedia for the explanations) 

_Shintenshin no Jutsu_ – Mind Body Switch Technique. This jutsu allows the user to send their mind into a target's body (even an animal's), supplanting the target's mind with their own. Yamanaka clan jutsu.

_Shikyaku no Jutsu_ – Four Legs Technique. This technique gives some increase of strength and speed to the user, as well as lengthening their nails into claws.

_Juujin Bunshin_ – Beast Human Clone. A modified version of a transformation technique, this jutsu allows a user to transform their animal companion into a perfect copy of themselves.

_Gatsuuga_ – Double Piercing Fang. The user and his partner spin at a ferocious speed and deliver many powerful beast-like attacks when contact is made with the target.

_Fuuton: Daitoppa_ – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. This jutsu sends out a powerful explosion of wind from the user's location, easily leveling anything in its path.

_Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu_ – Earth Clone Technique. This jutsu creates one or more identical copies of the user out of mud. Oddly, there does not need to be mud nearby for the technique to be performed.

_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_ – Water Clone Technique. This jutsu creates one or more identical copies of the user out of water.

_Suirou no Jutsu_ – Water Prison Technique. This jutsu is used to trap a victim inside a virtually inescapable sphere of water. The only downside to this technique is that the user must keep at least one arm inside the sphere at all times in order for the victim to remain imprisoned.

* * *

Here's the preview for the next chapter. Thanks for reading. 

_Having no choice if he wanted to save Konoha, Naruto complied with the fox's idea. It was either that, or watch his home village left in ruins. Dealing with Orochimaru and his sound ninja was already bad enough. Now he also had to deal with Gaara and his demon, Shukaku. Naruto made the hand seals and performed the jutsu._

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_

_All battles in the village of Konoha stopped as everyone witnessed the arrival of the Kyuubi no Kitsune._


	8. Chuunin Exam: Part Three

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

_'Text'_ – thinking

**"Text"** – Kyuubi speaking, Gamabunta speaking, Shukaku speaking

**_'Text'_** – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Chuunin Exam, Part Three**

(Hokage tower, the next day)

Naruto was currently discussing the situation with Sarutobi. Both of them agreed on the fact that Orochimaru's presence raises an important matter. Naruto then remembered about Kabuto, whom he suspects is a spy for the snake sannin.

"Sarutobi, I have reason to believe that Orochimaru has a spy in the village." The old man was listening intently at this. A spy would only lead to more problems.

"What do you mean? And who is it?"

"His name is Yakushi Kabuto. He's currently in disguise as a leaf genin. Before the start of the information gathering exam, he possessed quite a lot of shinobi info cards. He had revealed things about me that no genin should know."

"What did he reveal, and to whom did he reveal it to?" Things were getting worse by the minute.

"He revealed that 'Uzumaki Naruto' isn't my real name, and that I have kage level chakra reserves, though I suspect that he knows more. Everyone in the room heard it clearly."

"This is bad. We need to be careful as to whom we give out information to. Since you can already defend yourself, there will be no further need to inform future jounin and ANBU about your true identity. For all we know, he or she might be another one of Orochimaru's spies. Of course, if you feel the need to tell someone, go ahead and tell them. It is your secret after all."

Before the discussion could continue, the door opened. All of the jounin from the preliminaries walked into the room. All 6 of them, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, Anko, and Hayate, clearly wanted answers.

"Hokage-sama, you said you would explain what's going on?" Kakashi was the one who started the second conversation. Sarutobi then remembered what he promised these 6 jounin during the preliminaries. Thankful that Naruto was here, the old man told him to stay.

"Naruto here will answer your questions. He knows more than I do at the moment." The blond was annoyed that he had to stay and answer a few questions that Sarutobi himself already knew the answers to. He decided to give the old man a break and did as he said.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Asuma was the next one to ask a question.

"What the hell happened earlier? Is the fox breaking free?" The first question to be asked was fairly normal. Nothing unusual about it, so Naruto decided to answer it.

"No. He took control of me, but I don't blame him." This wasn't the type of answer they were looking for. Instead of helping the jounins understand, they were now even more confused.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sure all of you remembered that Kyuubi only attacked Orochimaru." Six nods confirmed his belief. "You see, the fox has nothing against Konoha. Orochimaru killed his family one day, still wearing a leaf hitai-ate. He attacked the village in rage." This cleared things up for everyone present. One of them had another question.

"What do the two of you do when you see that bastard?" Anko was asking this question. Clearly she despised the snake sannin as well, but not as much as Kyuubi. Naruto was interested in hearing that. He decided to answer her truthfully.

"I give control to Kyuubi so he can kill Orochimaru." Normally, they would be scared that Kyuubi was being allowed control. Now that they knew the truth, it didn't seem to faze them.

"Why not just kill him yourself? With your ability, I'm sure you can."

"Kyuubi wants to kill him personally. He said that it was the only reason he turned me into a child; to take revenge on the one who killed his family." Complete silence was eminent in the room for a few seconds. Naruto took this as a sign that there were no further questions.

"Since there doesn't seem to be any more questions, I'm leaving to train Hinata-chan for the final exam. Is that alright with you, Sarutobi?" The hokage allowed him to leave. Before the blond could exit the room, Kurenai had one last question.

"The two of you are training together? Aren't you each other's first round opponent?" Naruto could only smirk at this.

"So? That doesn't mean I can't train her." With that, Naruto left the room to do what he said he would.

"THE FLAMES OF YOUTH SHINE BRIGHTLY UPON HIM!" Gai was rambling about youth again, like he does almost everyday. The other jounin didn't need to hear more, so they all left the room as well to go their own separate ways. Even Sarutobi didn't need to hear this, so he left to take an early lunch break. That left the green-clad jounin alone in the room, still rambling about the flames of youth to noone but himself.

* * *

(Team 8 training grounds)

Naruto and Hinata were having a friendly spar to pass the time. Naruto was taking it easy on Hinata by restricting himself to taijutsu because she wasn't at 100 yet due to her fight against Neji.

Naruto was on the offensive as he threw attacks at the Hyuuga heiress who was either blocking or evading them. With her Byakugan activated, Hinata noticed that Naruto was planning to trap her using the nearby trees so she would have less room to manuever around the attacks. Hinata thought of a plan to reverse the situation. She was continuing to block or evade until the right moment. When she was almost trapped, Hinata used kawarimi to gain the superior position as she brought up a kunai to Naruto's neck, indicating that she won this round. Naruto could not do anything to counter because he had refrained from using any ninjutsu.

"Great work Hinata-chan. I'm proud of you. You'll be promoted to chuunin for sure if you keep this up." Naruto then smiled at Hinata for doing very well. Her face turned a light shade of red, but she didn't turn away from him. Dropping the kunai, Hinata moved closer to Naruto as the warm feeling in her chest gave her newfound courage. Naruto blushed at this unexpected situation.

"H-Hinata-chan… You…" Naruto found himself at a loss for words as his eyes focused on the pair of lips that were moving closer to his own.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Their lips met as both of them experienced their first kiss.

Naruto's back was pressed into the bark of the tree as Hinata advanced on him, but he had no problem with that as their lips continued to savor the feeling. For the first time, Hinata tasted him and Naruto tasted her, and they would never forget this very special moment.

The training session Naruto planned out was forgotten easily as he pulled Hinata closer to him. The clouds got dark and drops of rain fell upon the two ninja but the sensations that the kiss brought them kept both of them too busy to take notice of anything around them.

Gently, Hinata pulled away and broke the kiss. Silently, they both stared at each other. Hinata smiled at the dazed look on his face.

"I love you Naruto-kun." Naruto's dazed look changed into one that showed love. He smiled back at her and said the words she wanted to hear.

"I love you too Hinata-chan." Only now did both of them realize that it was raining.

"Let's go to Ichiraku and eat lunch there." Together, they made their way to the restaurant, hand in hand.

* * *

(Team 7 training grounds)

Sakura and Ino were waiting for the rest of the rookie nine to arrive. They planned on discussing about Naruto and his secrets. Being the nosy girls that they were, they wanted to know everything. They decided to start on what they already know and continue from there.

The first two to arrive were Shikamaru and Chouji. Normally they wouldn't go to an irrelevant group meeting, but Ino would scream at them even more if they didn't. They decided to spare themselves of that and went to the gathering. Shino arrived minutes after they did.

The last two to arrive were Kiba and Sasuke. Kiba had a hard time convincing the Uchiha to join them in their assembly. Only when he told him that it was about Naruto and his secrets did Sasuke agree to come. He was naturally curious about Naruto's strength ever since the blond defeated him back in the academy days. He wanted to find out how he obtained that much power.

As soon as everyone was present, they started the group conversation that might shed some light upon Naruto's secrets.

"Ok, since everyone is here, we can start. First, let's recall what we already know about Naruto." Sakura spoke the first sentence since she was the one who came up with the idea.

Kiba noticed that there were only 7 of them and not 8. "Wait a minute. Where's Hinata?"

"She's probably training with Naruto or on a date with him. Naruto would tell her everything first anyway. Let's continue with what we're here for."

"All of us know that he has extraordinary chakra levels, and that his real name is confidential. His first name, Arashi, has been revealed from the incident earlier in the preliminaries." Shikamaru brought up what everyone already knew. He wanted to get this meeting over with so he can get back to his hobby of watching clouds in silence.

"What incident?" Sasuke wasn't present during the entire thing; therefore he didn't know what occurred during that day. Sakura decided to inform him about it.

"You weren't there, Sasuke-kun, so let me tell you what happened. After Naruto defeated Kiba, he suddenly turned more feral. Red chakra was bursting off of him, and his features were more defined. He attacked a jounin, who turned out to be Orochimaru. Orochimaru revealed that Naruto's name is Arashi, and that he 'let the fox take control' or something, before he retreated. After Orochimaru retreated, Naruto returned to normal."

Speaking of the exams, Ino then recalled that she heard a voice when she used her clan technique on Naruto. She decided to reveal this information to everyone as well. It might bring up a few more things.

"During the first exam, I used my Shintenshin no Jutsu on Naruto. Inside his mindscape, I heard a voice that was different from Naruto's." Now this was something new. Their little assembly was getting somewhere.

"What did the voice sound like?" Chouji was curious about this, having experienced the Shintenshin no Jutsu himself. Ino didn't complain about anything when she released him.

"Well, it sounded demonic, but it didn't sound evil. The voice said that it was a pleasure to have a visitor." This didn't bring up anything at all. They needed more clues.

"There's also the fact that Naruto can summon foxes. He summoned one on the joint mission to Wave between team 7 and team 8. This might have something to do with what Orochimaru mentioned during the preliminaries." This was also a possible clue. Shino added the clues together.

"The only demon fox we know… is the Kyuubi." All of them were shocked as this revelation.

"But the Kyuubi is dead! The Yondaime killed him, remember?" Oh, how wrong they were.

"This meeting is getting nowhere. I'm leaving." Sasuke lost his patience and decided to leave and get back to his training.

"Sasuke is right. Besides, Naruto isn't ready to reveal his secrets just yet. I trust my teammate in his decision. He'll tell us when he's ready." Shino was the next one to leave.

"This is too troublesome. If they can leave, then I'm going too." Shikamaru decided to leave as well so he can get back to cloud watching. After Chouji heard this, he too left the training grounds.

"I'm hungry. I'm going to eat." Chouji then left to get lunch, leaving Sakura and Ino alone. The two were the most determined to discover the secrets Naruto held. They left the area together to research more on what was revealed today.

* * *

(The next day)

After his daily training session with Hinata, Naruto decided to scout the other competition. He chose to check up on Sasuke first. After all, his old student, Kakashi, was training the Uchiha. He found them on a training ground near the outskirts of Konoha. Naruto frowned when he saw what Kakashi was teaching Sasuke. He walked over to them.

"Kakashi, can I speak to you for a minute?" Kakashi agreed with him and told Sasuke to continue with his training. Together, Naruto and Kakashi walked over to a place where Sasuke wouldn't be able to hear them.

"What did you want to talk about, Arashi-sensei?"

"I told you that jutsu was forbidden. What are you doing teaching the Uchiha that move?" Kakashi gulped, not wanting to face his sensei's wrath. He already felt it when he was 3 hours late for the first time.

"Arashi-sensei, I needed to teach him that because his opponent is very powerful. He needs to learn that if he wants to have even a chance of winning." Naruto understood the reasoning behind it, but it was still a very dangerous technique.

"You had better watch what you're teaching Sasuke. If you're not careful with that, you might lose another Uchiha." Kakashi had a look of extreme sadness on his face. He remembered how they had lost Obito back then. Naruto saw that he made his point clear and went home to rest up.

Naruto arrived at home and decided to tell Sarutobi that he was going to sleep. As he did, the Sandaime brought up some interesting news.

"Arashi, Jiraiya is back in town. This is a good time to talk to him, as he won't be doing any missions for quite some time." Naruto wanted to talk to Jiraiya. He needed to tell him about the current events, and also about the toad summoning contract.

"I'll meet him tomorrow. Thanks for telling me this." Naruto left the room to go to sleep.

* * *

(The next day)

Naruto went to the hot springs after his daily training session with Hinata. He didn't want to bring her along to meet Jiraiya. The toad sannin might reveal his secrets too soon, and he was a pervert. He saw a shade of red at the upper branches of one of the trees. Recognizing that outfit anywhere, he jumped up to greet his old instructor.

"Hello Jiraiya-sensei." The toad sannin looked to his left and saw his student. He decided to talk to him.

"Hey Arashi, long time no see."

"Jiraiya-sensei, we need to talk. Can we go somewhere private?" Jiraiya was curious about this. He agreed and the two went outside of Konoha.

"What do you want to talk about?" Naruto then started the conversation.

"I'm pretty sure you already know of Orochimaru's involvement in the chuunin exams." A nod from the sannin told him that he already knew. "Ok, that solves one topic. I came to tell you something else. I need to talk to Gamabunta. Can you summon him for me?" This took Jiraiya by surprise. What happened to his ability to summon?

"Why can't you just summon him yourself?" Naruto knew that he was going to say this.

"When I sealed Kyuubi into myself, my blood composition was altered. Basically, my contract with the toads was nullified."

"Then I'll just let you sign the contract again. There's nothing wrong with that." Naruto also expected this. He decided to tell him everything.

"Well, Kyuubi allowed me to sign the summoning contract for foxes as a replacement. That's why I need you to summon Gamabunta for me. I need to ask him if it's alright." Jiraiya understood, and summoned the toad boss into the area.

**"Jiraiya! Why did you summon me!?" **The toad boss didn't like being summoned when there was nothing important.

"Hey 'Bunta, it's me, Arashi." Gamabunta recognized that voice. He looked down and indeed saw Arashi.

**"Arashi. It has been a long time. Why haven't you summoned me or any of my kin?"** Naruto once again explained everything.

"When I sealed the Kyuubi, it altered my blood composition. That means my contract with you and the other toads was nullified. The Kyuubi knew this and let me sign the fox contract in return. I wanted to talk to you and ask if it was alright for me to sign the toad contract when I already have a contract with the foxes." Gamabunta understood why he wanted to ask him first. Arashi probably thought that by signing the fox contract it would break his loyalty with the toads.

**"Arashi, I understand. Don't worry; I'm not angry at you for signing the fox contract. Go ahead and sign the toad contract again."**

"Thank you for understanding." With that, Gamabunta vanished in a puff of smoke. Arashi then took the scroll from Jiraiya and wrote over his old spot in the contract. His new entry glowed, indicating that the contract has once again accepted him. Jiraiya took back the scroll.

"Well, if there's nothing else you want to talk about, I'm leaving too. I need to get back to my research." Jiraiya had a wide grin on his face that Arashi could recognize any time.

"You mean after all these years, you're still a pervert?" Jiraiya's smirk only widened.

"No. I've become a super pervert!" Jiraiya left the blond to obtain more material for his next book.

"He'll never change." Naruto went back to Konoha.

* * *

(The day of the finals)

It was the day of the chuunin exam finals. The village was packed with tourists who came to watch the great fights that would occur later on. The stadium was full, with no empty seat at all. Everyone wanted to watch the matches that would take place, but some of them only came to watch the much expected fight between Gaara and Sasuke.

Up in the stands, the hokage was in his seat to witness the remaining participants compete for the position of chuunin. Next to him was the kazekage, along with two of his guards. What Sarutobi didn't know, was that the kazekage was actually Orochimaru in disguise, while his two guards were the sound four in disguise as well. The sound four aided Orochimaru in placing a multiple layered henge that would be near impossible to break. Orochimaru wanted that kind of henge to prevent anyone from discovering him, especially Arashi and the Kyuubi.

A jounin walked into the middle of the arena and explained the rules of the final exam to the 7 genin. There were only 7, because Dosu was discovered dead during the one month break, and Sasuke had not yet arrived. Everything was clear to the genin. Genma then asked them to watch from the stands. Every other genin except Naruto and Hinata, who were fighting first, then left the area.

"The first match is between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata. Begin!"

"Good luck, Hinata-chan." Naruto gave his girlfriend a smile before they fought.

"Good luck to you too, Naruto-kun." Hinata returned the smile. Both of them then jumped back and began the fight.

"Byakugan!" Hinata activated her bloodline limit and got into the traditional Gentle Fist stance. Seeing that Hinata can only use taijutsu without water around, Naruto decided to use a water jutsu to provide water for both him and Hinata.

"Suiton: Suijinheki." Naruto created a wall made out of water in the middle of the arena by spitting the water from his mouth. When there was enough water for any suiton jutsu, Naruto cancelled the technique. The water filled the arena and reached their ankles. Hinata wondered why he would create a water barrier when he wasn't getting attacked. She then realized that Naruto created water in the area so she can use her suiton jutsus. Hinata silently thanked Naruto for it as both of them started making handseals, 54 of them to be exact.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Two dragon-like figures emerged from the water and attacked each other. The result was a draw as both techniques cancelled each other out. The crowd was impressed by this show of talent from both ninja. Among the crowd were Hyuuga Hiashi and his second daughter, Hyuuga Hanabi. Both of them were also impressed, but more so for Hinata.

"Otou-sama, where did Hinata-nee-chan learn that technique?" Hanabi was curious about this since very few Hyuuga learned any jutsu outside of the Hyuuga clan.

"Her opponent is her teammate, and also her second instructor." Hiashi decided to not yet inform Hanabi about Hinata's relationship with Naruto. If she knew, then she would try to get into a relationship as well too soon.

"Her instructor? Then that means Hinata-nee-chan has no chance of winning!" Hiashi already knew this before when he found out that Hinata's opponent was Arashi.

"I know. I'll be proud of her anyway if she can fight back against Naruto."

Back in the fight, Naruto was proud of Hinata for creating a perfect water dragon that equalled his own. He now knew that she had mastered that technique completely.

"Looks like you've mastered that technique already, Hinata-chan."

"It's because you taught it to me so well, Naruto-kun."

Hinata decided to take advantage of the water present by using more water techniques. After making the required handseals, she called out the name of the jutsu.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten water clones of Hinata then came to life from the water present. Naruto decided to fight clones with clones. He put his hands into the one seal required for the next technique.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Five clones poofed into existence on Naruto's side. Each shadow clone then ran into Hinata's water clones, each one fighting two. The clones then fought in the middle of the arena. In the end, Naruto's shadow clones defeated Hinata's water clones and ran towards the real Hinata.

Hinata got back into the Gentle Fist stance as the shadow clones came and attacked her. She defeated the shadow clones with ease with help from her Byakugan. As soon as the last clone disappeared, Naruto released another jutsu.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan." Naruto exhaled a stream of incredibly hot fire from his mouth. Hinata barely had time to create a jutsu of her own to defend against Naruto's.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" Hinata created a water barrier of her own similar to what Naruto's looked like in the beginning of the match. She could not do it without water though, so she had to use the water Naruto provided. The wall of water defended her from the fire technique successfully, even though the wall was slowly evaporating. When Hinata released the water barrier, Naruto was no longer where he was earlier. Her Byakugan revealed to her that Naruto appeared behind her and launched an attack.

Hinata was having slight difficulty defending Naruto's attacks even with her Byakugan. He was significantly faster in his attacks than when they sparred during the one month break. Having no choice, she revealed one of her jutsus that Naruto didn't know she knew.

"Kaiten!" Hinata released chakra from her tenketsu to block Naruto's attacks. She then spins herself rapidly to toss Naruto a short distance away from her, giving her some breathing room. Naruto was impressed; he wasn't expecting this technique from her.

"It looks like your father has been training you as well, Hinata-chan."

"He has been training me everyday after our own training sessions when he found out that we were opponents today." Hinata resumed the Gentle Fist position and said the words that Naruto was definitely not expecting.

"Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" Hinata ran up to Naruto, intending to close off his tenketsu. Naruto had different plans.

"Two strikes!" Naruto blocked them with ease.

"Four strikes!" Again, Naruto blocked her attacks.

"Eight strikes!" Naruto had to exert a little effort, but he blocked them nonetheless.

"Sixteen strikes!" Naruto applied more effort to block all of the attacks.

"Thirty-two strikes!" Naruto did everything he could to deflect this next set of attacks. Fortunately for him, none of them got through.

"Sixty-four strikes!" Naruto took this final set of attacks seriously as he attempted to parry all of them. The few that managed to get through were met with Naruto releasing chakra from where the attack aimed at, preventing it from closing his tenketsu. Right after the final strike, Hinata performed a set of hand seals and used another water jutsu.

"Suirou no Jutsu!" Using the water provided, Hinata created a prison that trapped Naruto inside. Hinata assumed that the match was over.

"Looks like I win, Naruto-kun." Naruto just grinned at her, confusing the young Hyuuga.

"I'm not that easy to defeat, Hinata-chan." Inside the prison, Naruto performed a set of hand seals. Because Hinata had to hold the prison, she couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Jutsu Sho." Naruto applied enough chakra to cancel Hinata's water prison technique. Hinata just stood in shock as her technique was defeated. She then smiled knowing that Naruto took more than a simple water prison to defeat. Hinata had already used her most powerful techniques, so she no longer had an edge against Naruto.

Naruto then created a couple of shadow clones to hold her in place for his next technique. He stretched his arm and created a sphere of chakra on his palm. Normally, he didn't need to summon the clones to hold his opponent. In this occasion, Naruto didn't want to attack Hinata with the Rasengan. He just held it in place and looked at Hinata, as if expecting a concession from her.

The crowd was shocked. This boy knew how to perform the Yondaime's prized technique. Being villagers, none of them knew that Naruto was really the Yondaime.

Hinata knew of the damage the Rasengan could inflict on its target. This particular jutsu was explained in detail during the academy days. She knew that Naruto didn't want to use it on her, as proven by the time he stood still holding the sphere of chakra in his hand. She knew what she had to do.

"Alright Naruto-kun, you win." Upon hearing that, Naruto dispersed his Rasengan and called off his shadow clones. Genma then announced the winner of the match.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" The crowd cheered wildly for both the winner, and the great match both he and his opponent presented for the crowd. Naruto just looked at Hinata and told him that they had a great fight.

"That was a great match, Hinata-chan. I'm proud of you." Both of them smiled at each other as they made their way to the stands together. Shino congratulated them on a match well fought. Their team reunion was cut short when Shikamaru decided to ask Naruto a question.

"Naruto, that last jutsu you did was the Rasengan. How did you learn it?" The rest of team 8 then realized that Naruto had indeed performed the Rasengan. It certainly raised a few questions.

_'I gotta think of something! The only two people who know the Rasengan are myself and Jiraiya… Jiraiya! That's it!'_

"Jiraiya-sama taught me." They weren't completely satisfied with that answer.

"But the Yondaime took 3 years to master that jutsu. There's no way you could have learned it in a month." Naruto had to think up of something again. He remembered that he had used Kage Bunshin to hold Hinata in place. He decided to go with that.

"I used Kage Bunshin to help me learn it faster." They still weren't content with that. Fortunately for Naruto, Genma had an announcement after talking to a ninja who spoke with the hokage.

"The match between Sabaku no Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke has been moved to the last match of the quarterfinals due to it being much anticipated. Therefore, the next match is between Sabaku no Kankuro and Aburame Shino." Shino got ready for his match. Before he could go down to the arena, Kankuro announced his concession.

"I forfeit." Shino looked at the puppet user as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Very well, Aburame Shino is the winner. The next match is between Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari." Shikamaru was thinking of dropping this match as well, because it was too troublesome. A blessing was then presented to him as Temari also announced her concession.

"I forfeit as well." Naruto thought that something was up. Why would the sand-nin forfeit their matches?

"Something is going on. The sand team is clearly up to something. Be cautious around them." The other leaf-nin with him just nodded in approval.

Naruto was correct in his assumption. Gaara had informed his siblings to concede their matches as to conserve their chakra for the upcoming war.

_(Flashback)_

_Gaara was in the hotel room with Temari and Kankuro. He noticed the presence of demonic chakra within Naruto. After the preliminaries were over, he decided to talk to his siblings about what was going to happen in a month._

_"Temari, Kankuro, forfeit your matches in the finals." Both of them were confused as to why they should forfeit in the finals when they fought hard to even reach it. They were too scared to ask Gaara though; they knew what he could do to them if they opposed his decision. Gaara noticed their fear and explained the reason behind his logic to them._

_"Both of you need to prepare for the war. Konoha has their own jinchuuriki, the Uzumaki. I will deal with him while both of you deal with his companions. Is that clear?"_

_"H-hai." Temari and Kankuro nodded weakly, afraid to disobey Gaara._

_(End Flashback)_

The crowd was getting restless. Cries of _'Where is the Uchiha!?'_ could be heard around the arena. After ten minutes had passed, the hokage had no choice but to disqualify Sasuke. A chuunin was always punctual, and Sasuke's tardiness today cost him his chance at promotion. Sarutobi then informed one of his guards to tell Genma of his decision. Even the kazekage, Orochimaru in disguise, could not persuade him to wait a little longer.

The guard arrived at the middle of the arena and told Genma what the hokage's decision was. Genma nodded, and the guard returned to his post.

"Uchiha Sasuke has exceeded the ten minute waiting period. Therefore, the winner is Sabaku no Gaara." The crowd couldn't believe it. The tournament favorite had been disqualified for not arriving on time. Two people in the crowd took it harder than the others.

_'Sasuke-kun… disqualified? What happened?'_ Sakura and Ino couldn't believe what they were hearing. The two just sat in their seats completely still, wondering what happened to their precious Uchiha.

Orochimaru sat in his seat, his plans ruined because of Sarutobi's decision. He had to fix his strategy somehow. Giving the signal to Kabuto, disguised as an ANBU member, he prepared for the first part of the invasion.

Kabuto recognized the signal from his master. It was a bit too soon, but his orders were absolute. Making the handseals for the initial jutsu that signalled the invasion, he performed the A-rank genjutsu.

_'Nehan Shouja no Jutsu!'_ Everyone noticed feathers falling from the sky as the genjutsu took place around the entire arena. Those who recognized the genjutsu dispelled it immediately. Those who remained fell asleep, the genjutsu taking effect against them.

Orochimaru grabbed the hokage and took him above the stadium roof. His two guards took off their disguises and revealed themselves to be the sound four. They put up the barrier around the roof as the Sandaime and the snake sannin prepared for combat.

Naruto saw the sand team retreating towards the forest. He immediately knew that they were planning something. He dispelled the genjutsu on his teammates and told them to prepare. He walked over to Shikamaru, He noticed that he had dispelled the genjutsu, but was sleeping. _'Forget it, he'll just complain about it anyway.'_

"Team 8, Konoha is under attack. The sand team has retreated to the woods. Clearly they are planning something. We're going to follow them." His teammates nodded as they followed the sand team. Just as they left, a swirl of leaves appeared at the middle of the arena. It disappeared as both Kakashi and Sasuke were revealed. The two immediately noticed all of the ninja fighting each other and the state the audience was in. Genma noticed the two arrive and called out to them.

"Kakashi, Sasuke, you've finally arrived. I'll tell you everything, but we're currently in a war. Naruto and his team followed the sand shinobi who just retreated. Both of you can stay here and help us out." Kakashi just nodded as he attacked a sound jounin who appeared in the middle of the arena. Sasuke however had other thoughts.

* * *

(Forest)

Team 8 caught up to the sand siblings as the six of them prepared for a fight. Naruto took command of his team as he knew the threat their opponents posed.

"Shino, you take on Kankuro. Hinata-chan, you take on Temari. I'll deal with Gaara." After his commands, team 8 charged towards their respective opponents.

Kankuro revealed his puppet, Karasu, as he got ready to fight against Shino. He knew that the Aburame was a formidable opponent after watching him dispose of Zaku in the preliminaries. Kankuro then used his Kugutsu no Jutsu to control Karasu as Shino called his bugs to prepare for combat. The two then clashed and fought, determined to win.

Temari held her giant fan in both hands as she got ready to face the young Hyuuga. She had already witnessed the extent of her abilities during her fight with Naruto. She planned on only using long range jutsu to prevent Hinata from sealing her tenketsu.

Hinata assumed her Gentle Fist position as she too got ready to face the sand kunoichi. She was wondering if she had enough chakra to defeat her, knowing that she was almost out due to her fight with Naruto. Hinata then remembered the kunai that Naruto gave her at the forest of death tower. She decided to use that as a last resort, knowing that Naruto would protect her no matter what. Hinata then ran towards her opponent, determined to help Naruto.

Both Gaara and Naruto stared at each other for minutes as both of them got ready for what was arguably the greatest fight in their lives. They just stood there, listening to the other fights going on. Neither of them moved an inch, but both were mentally talking to their respective bijuu. Gaara suddenly recalled the words Naruto spoke when they first met each other before the exams.

"As you told me before, Shukaku will come out and play." Gaara then transformed into his demon state and used his Forced Sleep Technique to grant control to the demon, knowing that this might possibly be the only way he could defeat another demon host.

**"I'm finally free!" **Shukaku realized his state of freedom and intended to take full advantage of it.

_'What? Already? Gaara must be serious about the blond being a demon carrier. He must want to quickly end this before Uzumaki can call upon his own demon.'_ Both of the remaining sand-nin realized this and quickly moved away from the raccoon demon.

_'Naruto… I hope you know what you are dealing with.'_ Shino realized the danger the demon presented as well. He too moved away from Shukaku.

_'Naruto-kun, be careful…'_ Deep down, Hinata was afraid of what Shukaku could do to her or to Naruto. She unconsciously drew the kunai given to her by Naruto.

Naruto stared at the demon in front of him. He remembered that the Kyuubi told him that Shukaku can destroy a village if he wanted to. He was thinking of a plan that could possibly defeat the demon, when he noticed its arm moving. He saw a ball of sand heading towards Hinata, who was holding his three pronged kunai.

_'Hinata-chan!'_ Willing to protect Hinata even if his secrets would be put at risk, he used Hiraishin no Jutsu to appear in front of Hinata in a yellow flash. He immediately grabbed her and jumped away from the projectile. Hinata noticed the technique he used and asked him about it as soon as he put her down.

"Naruto-kun, wasn't that the…" She didn't get a chance to finish that statement as Naruto interrupted her in the middle of it.

"Hinata-chan, I'll tell you everything later. Right now, I have to fight a demon." Realizing the importance of this fight, Hinata nodded and let Naruto get back to his fight.

Naruto was still thinking of how he could defeat Shukaku. Even with his years of experience, this was only his second time fighting a demon. He didn't want to use the Shiki Fuujin this time because there was no guarantee that he would live. Naruto was out of options.

_**'Summon me.'**_ The Kyuubi was direct to the point. Naruto realized what the fox had meant.

_'What? No! The village will riot! Why can't I just summon Gamabunta?'_ Naruto was greatly opposed to this plan, even though this was the only one he had.

_**'Only a demon can fight against another demon. Summon me, Arashi.'**_

_'But the village will…'_ Naruto was cut off as this point.

_**'Do you want to protect the village or not?'**_

Having no choice if he wanted to save Konoha, Naruto complied with the fox's idea. It was either that, or watch his home village left in ruins. Dealing with Orochimaru and his sound ninja was already bad enough. Now he also had to deal with Gaara and his demon, Shukaku. Naruto made the hand seals and performed the jutsu.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

All battles in the village of Konoha stopped as everyone witnessed the arrival of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

* * *

(Stadium)

Genma was currently fighting Baki, the sand jounin in charge of Gaara and his team. They were evenly matched as both of them jumped away from the other. Genma then noticed a huge being made out of sand appear in the forest area. He looked at it in shock.

"What the hell is that!?" Baki looked at where the leaf jounin was staring at, and smirked.

"That's our demon, the Ichibi no Shukaku." Before the sand jounin could turn around and continue their fight, another huge being appeared in that area, this time a nine-tailed fox. It was Baki's turn to look in shock.

"What the hell is that!?" Genma was the one smirking this time. The hokage had informed him of the truth behind the attack 12 years ago. He decided to entertain the sand-nin's question, just as he did a while ago.

"That's our demon, the Kyuubi no Kitsune." The two jounin then continued their fight.

* * *

Every Konoha ninja just stared at the figure of the nine-tailed fox that attacked their village 12 years ago. All of them had their own thoughts, though most of them were similar.

_'What the hell is that damn demon doing back here? I thought it died all those years ago!'_ All of the chuunin and villagers who witnessed the great battle before were in fear at the arrival of the fox.

_'Arashi released the fox? He must be up to something. He'd better keep that fox under control though.' _The jounin and ANBU who knew the truth, or part of it, had faith in their Yondaime. They continued their respective fights, intending to protect their home village.

Sarutobi saw the arrival of the Kyuubi as well. He just smiled at it as Orochimaru looked at the fox in fear. If the fox sensed him, it would be the end of his life. Orochimaru then commanded the Shodaime and Nidaime hokages to attack Sarutobi, intending to finish this as quickly as possible before the fox could discover him.

* * *

(Forest)

Everyone in the forest had mixed reactions as they saw the form of the Kyuubi with Naruto on top of its head. What was similar among most of them was the fear now present in them.

_'Is that his demon? We'll just have to watch the inevitable clash between them.'_ These were the thoughts of Temari and Kankuro, although they were scared as well at the presence of not one, but two demons.

_'Naruto summoned the Kyuubi? Then I was right all along at the meeting. Though, if Ino said that it wasn't evil, then I shouldn't have to worry at all.'_ Shino wasn't worried at all, though he was curious. More and more of Naruto's secrets have been revealed today. There were enough clues for him to make an assumption.

_'N-Naruto-kun… summoned the Kyuubi? What's going on? But, Naruto-kun told me that he will explain everything later…'_ Hinata was afraid of the Kyuubi, but if Naruto summoned the great beast, then he must have had some kind of plan. She just stared at the two demons about to do battle.

**"Kyuubi? What are you doing here? Do not interfere while I destroy this pathetic village!"** Shukaku was just as surprised as everyone else when the fox appeared.

**"No. Do not harm Konoha, or I will destroy you."** The fox made his voice loud enough that it was heard around the village. Everyone who didn't know the truth was greatly surprised at hearing this from the one that attacked the village 12 years ago. Hinata and Shino were equally as surprised.

_'Naruto-kun must have controlled the fox somehow.'_ Hinata's fear was greatly reduced upon hearing this.

_'Ino was right, it wasn't evil at all.'_ Shino too was no longer afraid.

**"Then I'll just have to destroy you!"** Shukaku then inhaled a great amount of air and released it by punching his gut. **"Fuuton: Renkuudan!"**

Kyuubi was quick to counter the air bullet heading his way. **"Suiton: Teppoudama!" **The two elemental bullets collided which resulted in a storm that engulfed the forest. Everyone that wasn't involved in the fight took cover underneath the trees.

Shukaku then ran towards Kyuubi and threw out a punch. Kyuubi caught his hand with a couple of his tails and used the remaining tails to strike the one-tailed demon numerous times. Shukaku was screaming in pain as the tails continued to attack him repeatedly. Kyuubi then used his tails to subdue the incarnate of sand. Shukaku was unable to move with the tails holding him in place. Kyuubi then informed Arashi of his plan telepathically as both of them prepared their own jutsus.

**"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"** The fox shot a blast of water in the shape of a dragon towards Shukaku. At the same time, Naruto finished his own jutsu.

"Raiton: Rairyuudan no Jutsu!" Naruto summoned a dragon made out of lightning as it merged with Kyuubi's water dragon. The jutsu combination was powerful enough to force the fox to release his grip on Shukaku as the incarnate of sand was slammed down hard into the ground. The earth literally shook upon impact.

"Hold him down, Kyuubi." The fox did as he said as Naruto jumped down and walked towards Shukaku. He saw the sleeping form of Gaara merged with Shukaku. Naruto woke up the red haired shinobi by kicking him in the chest. The form of Shukaku crumbled as Gaara woke up from the pain. He saw that he was on the ground, Naruto was standing above him, and the Kyuubi was above both of them, staring at him with eyes that brought fear to him for the first time. Instinctively, Gaara crawled backwards, wanting to get away from the one stronger than him, thinking that he would be killed.

"Don't come any closer! My existence will not disappear!" Temari and Kankuro jumped behind Gaara as Shino and Hinata jumped behind Naruto as well. Naruto saw the fear in all three sand siblings and decided to spare them, hoping to gain powerful allies by doing so.

Seeing that Arashi was in control of the situation, Kyuubi disappeared and went back inside the seal in the form of red chakra. Shino and Hinata noticed this, and decided to ask their questions later.

"I won't kill you. However, you will not harm my friends or anyone in Konoha ever again." Gaara was surprised; this man wasn't going to kill him.

"How? How could you be so powerful?" Naruto decided to tell him his motivation to fight, hoping that Gaara would understand. He could not tell him that he had immense power all along. That would not help the red haired shinobi change his ways.

"It's because I fight for others, while you only fight for yourself." Seeing Gaara's look of understanding, he continued.

"I fight for my village." Naruto looked at Konoha, intending on ending this war as soon as possible. He noticed the barrier around the roof of the stands in the coliseum.

"I fight for my friends." Naruto then looked at Shino, who was speechless at what had transpired today. There was simply too much to take in.

"But most of all, I fight for the one I love." Naruto then looked at Hinata, who had a light blush on her face. Naruto had revealed their love to everyone present. She then smiled at Naruto, who smiled back at her.

Gaara immediately understood how Naruto had become so strong. "Love, huh? Perhaps one day, I'll find someone I could love." Gaara then stood up and was being supported by his two siblings. "Temari, Kankuro, let's go. There's no need to fight anymore." Together, the sand team left the forest.

Naruto noticed the looks on his teammates' faces. He realized that they knew too much already. He decided that they would learn about his secrets soon, but not now.

"I'm pretty sure both of you have your own questions to ask me. I'll be happy to answer them, but not now. I have to save Konoha from this war." Naruto then summoned the toad boss, Gamabunta. He needed his help to destroy the barrier that was preventing anyone from entering it.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" To the surprise of his two teammates, Naruto summoned a toad instead of a fox. Gamabunta's large form surrounded the area. The toad noticed who summoned him, and was glad that it wasn't Jiraiya.

**"Arashi, good to see you. What's going on?"** The ex-hokage then went direct to the point, seeing the importance of time in this situation.

"We're currently in a war. We need to destroy that barrier over there." Realizing that they were in a war, Gamabunta immediately obeyed and quickly made his way to the barrier. When they were close enough, Naruto told Gamabunta to get ready. The toad boss understood what he meant as he prepared a large amount of oil. Naruto made a few handseals.

"Katon: Gamayu Endan!" Gamabunta released the oil from his mouth as Naruto used a fire technique to ignite the oil. The resulting blast of flame damaged the barrier enough for Naruto to sneak in using Shunshin no Jutsu. As soon as Naruto made it, the barrier completely repaired itself, locking the blond inside. He arrived just in time, as Sarutobi was having trouble dealing with two kages and a sannin. Gamabunta then disappeared in a puff of smoke, his job done.

"Sarutobi, don't tell me you're having problems with the snake bastard and his friends." Orochimaru was shocked that Arashi made it inside. The barrier that the sound four had put up was supposed to be impenetrable.

"Arashi, how did you make it inside?" The third was surprised, not even his ANBU could penetrate the defense that Orochimaru had his squad put up. The ANBU outside were equally as surprised, but they expected no less from the fourth hokage.

"Never mind that. We have to deal with them right now. I'll take Orochimaru, you take the two kages. You better tell me everything later." Sarutobi just agreed with him as they got ready to continue the fight.

Arashi then charged towards the snake sannin as both shinobi fought. The Kyuubi was exhausted from being released from the seal for a long time, and therefore did not ask for control. Arashi was on his own for this fight. He didn't need help from the fox though, because Orochimaru seemed exhausted as well and was barely defending himself from the Yondaime's attacks.

Orochimaru was surprised that Arashi did not let the fox take control. That means he could no longer resort to cheap insults to create an advantage. The snake sannin had already spent too much chakra bringing back the first and the second hokage from the dead. Having no choice, he once again decided to flee, valuing his life over everything else. The snake's plans were once again foiled by the blond haired shinobi.

"Sound Four. We're leaving." The four shinobi followed their master's orders and dropped the barrier. They quickly left the village, knowing that the invasion was a failure.

Arashi wanted to chase them down and allow the fox to fulfill his revenge. Orochimaru was not getting away again. Before he could follow them, he heard the cry for help from his good friend Sarutobi.

"A little help, Arashi." The third was having trouble fending off two kage. His old age was catching up to him and his abilities as a shinobi. The fourth reluctantly allowed the snake sannin to escape, the life of his friend being more important. He called out to the ANBU squad waiting just outside of where the barrier used to be.

"Hold off the two kage while I prepare." The ANBU squad immediately followed the command. As they were attacking the first and second hokages, Arashi made the required handseals for the only jutsu that could defeat them in their current state.

"Jutsu Sho!" The Yondaime focused his chakra on the form of the first hokage. Using the jutsu, he cancelled the technique Orochimaru put in place, effectively turning the body of the first into dust. The dust then revealed the lifeless corpse of Abumi Zaku, who was sacrificed for the revival of the Shodaime Hokage. Arashi then focused on the other opponent.

"Jutsu Sho!" The same thing happened to the Nidaime Hokage, only this time the dust revealing the body of Tsuchi Kin, who was also sacrificed. Arashi then smiled, knowing that they were successful in holding off the invasion.

* * *

Every shinobi of Konoha had defeated their respective opponents. All of them were happy knowing that they had won. Their happiness was replaced with confusion as they remembered the appearance of the Kyuubi and his intention of protecting Konoha.

Both Sarutobi and Arashi will have one hell of a headache explaining all of this to everyone.

* * *

Hello everyone. This is the third and final part of the chuunin exam arc. Only when I finished the chapter did I realize that it was over 8000 words long. This is probably the result of overflowing creative juices, so don't expect any other chapter to be as long as this. I'll try to reach at least 5000 per chapter though. Anyway, I've received another set of interesting reviews.

_Yondy_ – I use Wikipedia as my source for all jutsus that appear in this fic. It says that the Chidori and Raikiri are different jutsus, although one of them is based on the other. There are two jutsus in this chapter that aren't in Wikipedia though, but they should be easy enough to understand. I'm sure they exist; they just haven't been seen yet.

_bissek_ – I realized that indeed. That is exactly how Itachi and the rest of Akatsuki will know all about Naruto and his secrets. The need to know was determined by the extreme importance of Arashi's safety at that point in time.

_Tashio_ – I'll break this into parts because of the length.

Arashi needed protection when he was a child. Now that he is a shinobi once again capable of defending himself, the secret has been kept just that, a secret. Kurenai knew about it beforehand because she will ask the hokage about it anyway once she sees Naruto fight at levels way above a genin.

Having a bunch of jounin and ANBU protect Arashi as a child indeed raises alarms around the shinobi world. But that isn't much different from the original Naruto series; a little boy being called a demon and outcasted by a village that emphasizes unity will also raise alarms.

Regarding the other villages sending a jounin as a spy, of course Sarutobi will deeply investigate the person's background, as well as the village that sent them. He isn't going to just tell a new shinobi a big secret without proving his/her worth. For example, Suna might send someone and Sarutobi won't be worried, but someone from Iwa will certainly require investigation.

This story does seem to be going a bit fast, but I intend to end it just after the point where Sasuke kills Orochimaru. That seems long enough. I'll try to remember to write about everyone's thoughts once something big has been revealed.

_shika-kun49_ – There was no infant. Arashi sealed the fox into himself, and was then turned into a child by Kyuubi.

* * *

**Jutsu List** (Thanks to Wikipedia for the explanations)

_Kawarimi no Jutsu_ – Body Replacement Technique. This jutsu lets the user quickly switch places with a nearby object.

_Suiton: Suijinheki_ – Water Release: Water Encampment Wall. This jutsu creates a water barrier to protect the user from any offensive attacks.

_Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu_ – Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique. Using this jutsu, the user creates a huge current of water in the form of a serpentine dragon and directs it towards a target.

_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_ – Water Clone Technique. This justu creater one or more identical copies of the user out of water.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ – Shadow Clone Technique. Similar to the Clone Technique (_Bunshin no Jutsu_), this jutsu creates clones of the user. Unlike the Clone Technique, these clones are actual copies, not illusions.

_Katon: Karyuu Endan_ – Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile. This technique exhales a long stream of incredibly hot fire from the user's mouth.

_Hakkesho Kaiten_ – Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin. This jutsu utilizes the chakra control gained through Gentle Fist training to release a huge amount of chakra from the user's chakra points when struck. The released chakra blocks any possible attack. The user then spins themselves rapidly to parry the attack, both creating a shield of chakra around themselves and tossing away any would-be attackers.

_Hakke Rokujuyon Sho_ – Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. This jutsu closes off one-hundred-twenty-eight specific chakra points (_tenketsu_) on an opponent's body with the Gentle Fist style, effectively eliminating their ability to use chakra for quite some time and making it quite difficult for them to move.

_Suirou no Jutsu_ – Water Prison Technique. This jutsu is used to trap a victim inside a virtually inescapable sphere of water. The only downside to this technique is that the user must keep at least one arm inside the sphere at all times in order for the victim to remain imprisoned.

_Jutsu Sho_ – Technique Neutralize. This jutsu cancels or impedes the occurring of the opponent's technique. It uses the same amount of chakra as the jutsu it intends to cancel.

_Rasengan_ – Spiraling Sphere. The user creates ball of concentrated, spinning chakra in the user's hand that is slightly larger than a baseball. The Spiraling Sphere requires no hand seals to perform, instead relying entirely on the chakra control of the user. Once the user creates a stable Spiraling Sphere, however, it becomes self-sustaining, so the user does not need to provide any more chakra after forming it. The force of the spinning chakra grinds into whatever it touches, causing major damage. The force of the attack also causes significant internal injury. The user can also release the spinning chakra, creating a violent explosive force at the point of contact.

_Nehan Shouja no Jutsu_ – Temple of Nirvana Technique. This jutsu causes everyone within a specific area to fall into a deep sleep. From the target's point of view, it seems as if feathers are falling from the sky, which serves as a distraction to allow the jutsu to take effect.

_Kugutsu no Jutsu_ – Puppet Technique. This jutsu uses strings of chakra from the user's fingers to control puppets like marionettes.

_Hiraishin no Jutsu_ – Flying Thunder God Technique. This jutsu allows the user to move over large distances with ultra-high speed. To activate this jutsu, the user needs a special seal or "jutsu formula" (_jutsu-_shiki) to mark the destination. After this is done, the user can almost instantaneously transport himself to that location.

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_ – Summoning Technique. The basic form of all summoning techniques, this jutsu uses a contract, hand seals, and the user's blood to summon an animal from another dimension.

_Fuuton: Renkuudan_ – Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet. The user takes a deep breath, distends his stomach, and punches himself in the gut, shooting a large ball of compressed air and chakra at an opponent, causing an enormous conflagration if it hits.

_Suiton: Teppoudama_ – Water Release: Water Bullet. The user spits out a blast of water in the shape of a bullet from his mouth. (Not in Wikipedia, not sure about translation)

_Raiton: Rairyuudan no Jutsu_ – Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Blast Technique. The user creates a blast of lightning in the shape of a dragon and sends it at an opponent. (Not in Wikipedia, sure about translation)

_Katon: Gamayu Endan_ – Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet. Gamabunta spits out a large amount of oil, which is then ignited by the user.

_Shunshin no Jutsu_ – Body Flicker Technique. This jutsu is a high-speed movement technique, allowing a ninja to move short distances at an almost untraceable speed.

* * *

NaruHina fans, have you seen chapter 355 of the manga yet? If that isn't a sign of NaruHina, I don't know what is.

Here's the preview for the next chapter. For this chapter only, the preview will be short and direct to the point. Thanks for reading.

_"Hinata-chan, I'm about to tell you both of my deepest secrets."_


	9. Revelations

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

**"Text"** – Kyuubi speaking

**_'Text'_** – Kyuubi thinking

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Revelations**

(After the invasion, Naruto's room)

Naruto was taking a break from everything that happened a while ago. On this very day, he fought Hinata, Gaara's demon Shukaku, Orochimaru, the Shodaime Hokage, and the Nidaime Hokage. He needed a rest after fighting all of them, even if he had a portion of the Kyuubi's chakra along with his own.

Naruto also needed this short break to prepare for what might possibly be the greatest headache he will ever receive in his life, explaining everything to his friends and the rest of the village. He knew that he will get a lot of questions from anyone who will hear about both of his secrets from him. After all, it was pretty hard to explain that he was the Yondaime, who was presumed dead 12 years ago, and that he housed the Kyuubi, who was also thought to be dead along with him.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his break was about to be cut short as he had a couple of visitors whom he promised he would explain his secrets to. He stood up and opened the door to let his guests in. As soon as the door opened, both Hinata and Shino entered his room, obviously wanting to talk to him. Shino took a seat on one of the chairs, while Naruto and Hinata sat next to each other on the bed.

"I assume you two want some answers now?" Shino immediately replied, but it was not the one Naruto was expecting.

"I just came to tell you that I already know." Both of his teammates looked at him, surprised.

"You… you know? How did you find out?" Shino entertained his question, being careful that he did not reveal too much. He thought that Naruto wanted to tell Hinata the secrets himself.

"I connected all the clues that were revealed about you, as well as everything that seemed unusual. After you summoned Kyuubi, it was clear to me who you really are now. I would just like you to know that I'm honored to be your teammate, and your friend." Naruto was impressed that Shino figured it out on his own. He smiled and nodded at his Aburame teammate, indicating that it was alright with him.

"I know that you want to tell Hinata about the secrets yourself. I'll be at home if you need me. By the way, the rest of the rookie nine are already suspicious, and are trying to find out already." Shino then stood up and exited the room, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone inside.

"How about you, Hinata-chan? Did you find out already?"

"I haven't figured it out yet, Naruto-kun. That's why I'm here, to ask you." Naruto understood, and took a deep breath to get ready for the most important speech in his 'new' life.

"Hinata-chan, I'm about to tell you both of my deepest secrets." The Hyuuga heiress was listening intently at his words. She wanted to know all about him ever since her father called him 'Arashi' back then. Now, she was about to find out.

"Even though Shino knows everything already, you are the first person I will reveal my secrets to. The hokage will most likely reveal everything as well soon, probably later today or tomorrow. I want you to hear it from me directly." Naruto then got ready for the big speech.

"I'm going to start from the beginning. Is that alright with you?" After Hinata replied with a nod, he continued. "12 years ago, before the attack on Konoha, Kyuubi was living peacefully with his family in the woods. One day, when he left to gather some food, a former shinobi of Konoha attacked and killed his family. That ninja was Orochimaru. The Kyuubi returned to the sight of his family laying dead on the ground, Orochimaru standing above them. When the snake sannin saw the Kyuubi, he quickly vanished, wanting to save his life. Kyuubi was in a state of blind rage; he attacked Konoha." Naruto took a short break to catch his breath.

"This is where everything about me is revealed. Are you ready to find out?"

"Hai Naruto-kun, I want to understand. I want to know everything." Naruto then began the second half of his revelation.

"The Kyuubi was attacking Konoha, his anger taking over rational thought. Sensing that Konoha will be destroyed if no action is taken, the Yondaime came up with a plan that would defeat the fox. The plan was to seal the Kyuubi inside himself, taking both of their lives in the process because the additional chakra would overload the Yondaime's chakra system. His plan worked, but there was a side effect." Hinata interrupted Naruto here with a question.

"Side effect? What happened to the Yondaime?" Naruto then continued what was left of his story.

"The Kyuubi did not want to die without killing the one responsible for the death of his family, so he did the only thing he could. He turned the Yondaime into a child in order to ensure his existence. A child's chakra system wasn't fully developed yet; therefore it would accept the sudden increase of chakra in it. In exchange for the promise of killing Orochimaru, the fox was helping the Fourth whenever he needed it. In short, the Kyuubi is now sealed inside the Yondaime." Everything was clear to Hinata now. Slowly, she realized the truth and what Naruto was trying to tell her. Her eyes widening was all that Naruto needed to know that she found out.

"Hinata-chan, I am the Yondaime Hokage, Kazama Arashi. The Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed inside me." Hinata was shocked at hearing this. Her Naruto-kun is actually the reincarnation of the greatest shinobi that Konoha has ever produced, the Yondaime Hokage. Her shock was evident on her face, which Naruto noticed immediately.

"Hinata-chan, I'm sorry for not revealing everything right away. I wasn't ready back then. My revelation might change some things, but one thing that will not change because of this is my love for you. Hinata-chan, I want to know if you still feel the same way about me, because I do." His words released her from her state of shock. Hinata then spoke up, acting on her deep feelings.

"Naruto-kun, even after you have revealed everything to me, you are still the Naruto-kun that gave me confidence greater than I had ever hoped for. You are still the Naruto-kun that helped me and stayed with me ever since we became friends. Most importantly, you are still the Naruto-kun that returned my deepest feelings." Naruto was taken aback by her own revelation. Hinata finished it with the last sentence, which summed up everything she had said.

"Naruto-kun, I love you." Naruto then gave off a smile that showed how much that statement meant to him.

"I love you too Hinata-chan." Hinata then returned his smile with one of her own. Slowly, she moved her head forward, reminiscent of the first time she did this back at the training grounds.

The couple then ended their conversation with a kiss just as deep as the first one they shared. Unlike their first kiss, Naruto took the lead in this one as he pushed Hinata's back to the comfort of his bed. The sensations that both of them were receiving from the feel of their lips pressed against each other were just as great as before. The famous saying states that the first kiss is always the greatest. Well, one could say that this was their first kiss all over again.

Naruto then reluctantly ended their second kiss by pulling away. Hinata wanted more and moved her head forward, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. She didn't seem to mind it as she grabbed Naruto and tried to pull him back, but Naruto knew that the knock at the door meant that Sarutobi wants to talk to him, and got off the bed. He saw the disappointment in Hinata's face, and thought of something to make it up to her.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan; I'll make it up to you tomorrow." With that, Naruto left to go to the hokage's office, while Hinata went home to take a rest of her own.

* * *

(Hokage's office)

"You called, Sarutobi?" The Sandaime nodded and motioned for him to take a seat.

"Thank you for coming, Arashi. There are two things I need to discuss with you." Naruto looked at the current hokage, wanting to know what was going on.

"Two things?" Sarutobi nodded, confirming his question. He then pulled out a couple of vests, one for jounin and one for chuunin. Naruto noticed the difference in the vests. Before he could ask about it, the Sandaime spoke up, answering the unspoken question.

"The village is questioning the appearance of Kyuubi earlier today. They are confused about the fox's intention of protecting Konoha. I've decided to tell them the truth behind the attack all those years ago, including about you. Therefore, you are now officially a jounin again." This surprised Naruto a bit. Everyone was now going to know the truth about him, like he expected. What he didn't expect was his sudden promotion, as well as the additional vest present.

"If I'm a jounin, then what is that chuunin vest for?" Sarutobi just smiled at him.

"It's for Hyuuga Hinata. She has been promoted to chuunin. I thought it would be better if you gave her the vest, seeing as the two of you are now a couple." Naruto had a smile of his own after hearing that Hinata was promoted.

"That's great. Hinata-chan will be pleased to hear this." Naruto then remembered his talk with Hinata earlier. He decided to inform Sarutobi about it.

"Speaking of Hinata-chan, I told her everything about myself a while ago. She now knows. Tomorrow, I'm telling her that I'm taking her as my apprentice. I already informed Hiashi and he was alright with it. I wanted to tell you just in case." The Third just nodded.

"That's fine. Now, it's time we told Konoha the truth." Sarutobi then summoned 4 chuunin to inform the village about an important announcement by the hokage.

* * *

Word has spread throughout Konoha about the arrival of the one that brought destruction upon it over a decade ago. By now, every single citizen of Konoha knows that the Kyuubi no Kitsune is still alive. What they didn't know is that why the fox would protect them from an invasion. That question was about to be answered as Sarutobi, along with Naruto, was about to reveal the truth to the crowd now present.

"Citizens of Konoha, just now we have protected our village by driving back those that have planned an invasion upon us. However, by doing so, we have witnessed an appearance of the one responsible for our losses 12 years ago. I'm sure all of you are wondering why the Kyuubi is back when he died along with the Yondaime. That is why I have called all of you here today. I am going to announce the truth about what really happened 12 years ago."

The crowd was silent. They found out that they were lied to for 12 years. They could do nothing but wait for the hokage to reveal the truth. Some were scared, and some were anxious. Those who already knew were not nervous at all. Finally, after a moment of silence, Sarutobi once again spoke.

"12 years ago, the Kyuubi was living peacefully with his family in the woods. One day, Orochimaru, the sannin turned traitor, murdered his family while he was away to gather food. The fox then attacked Konoha in anger. The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi within himself, thinking that it would kill both him and the fox. Kyuubi however, turned the Yondaime into a child to avoid death. Therefore, both the Yondaime and the Kyuubi are still alive."

That last statement caused the crowd to cheer. Their beloved Yondaime was still alive and well. Even if he had the Kyuubi sealed inside him, the fox had nothing against Konoha. It was only against Orochimaru. Sarutobi silenced the crowd with a wave of his hand, and motioned Naruto to speak to all the people who cheered on him.

"People of Konoha, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am also known as Kazama Arashi, the Yondaime hokage." The crowd cheered even louder when Naruto spoke the second sentence. There were some people in the crowd who recognized him, mainly team 7, team 10, and team Gai. Team 8 was also there, but they already knew his secrets, so they didn't have any additional comments.

_'That's Naruto! So that's what Kabuto meant by his name being blocked.'_ This was the thought of both Sakura and Ino. Now that they knew, they didn't have to research more on him.

_'So Naruto is the Yondaime all along… How troublesome.' _Shikamaru thought everything was troublesome, even this.

_'Hmm, Naruto is the Yondaime… That must mean he has enough money for great food. He better treat us someday.'_ Typical Chouji, always having food on his mind.

_'I guess I can't do anything about losing to Naruto if he is the Yondaime all along.'_ At least Kiba understood now why he was greatly outmatched back at the preliminary fights.

_'Naruto… So that is how you obtained so much power…'_ Sasuke was still thinking about how to get enough power to avenge his clan.

_'So that is how Hinata-sama was able to defeat me, she was trained by the Yondaime.'_ This was what Neji thought. After his loss to Hinata, his outlook on fate and destiny changed drastically. He has stopped being a pain in the ass and has now become more open towards everyone, especially his team and the rest of the rookie nine.

_'Maybe Naruto knows some things about weapons that I don't, I'll have to ask him someday.'_ Tenten, being a dedicated kunoichi and weapons master, was thinking of how she can improve.

_'Naruto-san is BURNING WITH THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!'_ This was obviously Lee's thoughts.

Naruto then continued to talk after the crowd was silenced. He expected this reaction all along. After all, he received the same reaction after he led Konoha to victory against Iwa in the war.

"I just want all of you to know, even if I am no longer the hokage for now, I will still do everything in my power to protect Konoha. I promise that on my new life as Uzumaki Naruto." The multitude of villagers and ninja cheered wildly once again for him as he left the area. Sarutobi then dismissed everyone as they went home to celebrate on the good news that was revealed. However, not everyone in the crowd was from Konoha, as a hooded person left the village, no doubt wanting to bring this important news to whoever he worked for. Two people with straw hats were also present, but did not leave the village, wanting to deal with their business inside it first.

* * *

(The next day)

Naruto was waking up to a new day, certainly one that would be different from every other day. The whole village now knew that he was the Yondaime hokage who was believed to be dead 12 years ago. He wore his custom made modified cloak, the red one with white flames, on top of his new jounin vest, which was on top of a black shirt. He wore dark blue pants to finish the attire. Before leaving his room, he took the chuunin vest that was for Hinata and hid it underneath his cloak. He then left and went outside, wanting to look for Hinata.

Once he was visible outside, he was greeted by everyone he passed. This went on until he reached the barbecue restaurant that Chouji always went to. He looked at everyone eating inside, and sure enough, he saw Hinata there, along with the rest of the rookie nine and team Gai, except for Sasuke. They were eating lunch together. Naruto entered the restaurant, and was immediately noticed by the owner.

"Yondaime-sama! What an honor it is to have you in my restaurant! How may I serve you?" Naruto just looked at his friends and told the owner that he was with them. The owner nodded and escorted him to the table where the rest of the leaf ninja were. As he arrived, all of them took notice of the blond arriving and taking a seat next to Hinata. He then took some food from the serving plate and ordered more to replace what he took.

"Well, if it isn't the Yondaime hokage himself. How may we serve you today?" Kiba was obviously joking around with Naruto. They were a group of friends now, and they wouldn't let this opportunity to tease Naruto pass.

"Cut it out guys, I'm still the Naruto you know." The whole group had a short laugh at this. Only then did someone from their group notice Naruto's jounin vest. Sakura was the one who noticed, but she thought it was a chuunin vest.

"Congratulations on your promotion to chuunin, Naruto." Naruto just looked confused, and then he recalled his promotion. He spoke up to correct the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Actually, this is a jounin vest." Sakura corrected herself, and then the group congratulated him. Naruto then remembered about Hinata's chuunin vest. He pulled it out and held it in front of everyone.

"I'm not the only one who got promoted. Congratulations on becoming a chuunin, Hinata-chan." Naruto gave the chuunin vest to a lightly blushing Hinata with a smile. The group clapped and congratulated Hinata. He had more good news for Hinata though, and now was a good time to tell her.

"I have something else for you, Hinata-chan." The group got silent as they listened to Naruto.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?"

"Remember when I told you that I would be training you until the chuunin exam?" Hinata answered with a nod. "Well, I talked to your father. He agreed to let me take you as my apprentice. We'll be together everyday, training and helping each other." Hinata was overjoyed at being with Naruto for everysingle day. She wrapped her arms around Naruto and hugged him. Naruto put his left arm around her waist and held the back of her head with his right hand, an obvious sign of affection.

"Come on Hinata-chan, we'll start your training now." Naruto gave her a quick kiss on the lips in front of everyone, earning some looks of surprise from team Gai, and smiles from the rest. Naruto then left enough money to pay for both his share of the meal and Hinata's, then the two left the restaurant and made their way to team 8's training grounds.

"He only left enough money for the two of them." Chouji was a bit disappointed when he found this out. The others didn't understand why.

"What's wrong with that? Don't tell me you expected him to treat all of us." Even though Ino said this, she also expected Naruto to pay for all of them.

"Of course. He is the Yondaime after all. He should have a lot of money lying around somewhere." The group realized this, and made sure that Naruto would treat them someday. All of a sudden, Sakura came up with one of her ideas.

"Let's follow them, see what they're up to." Everyone else thought this was a good idea, except for Shikamaru who thought it was troublesome. They paid for the meal and left. Chouji was the last one to leave because he was eating everything that remained, not wanting to waste food.

* * *

(Team 8 training grounds)

Naruto and Hinata arrived at the training grounds, both of them with their own intentions. Naruto was here to train Hinata and spend more time alone with her, while Hinata was here to improve herself with Naruto's guidance as well as spending more time with him. On their way here, Naruto noticed the other genin following them, but chose not to pay them any attention. He also noticed Sasuke following the group, no doubt curious as to why all of them were together. When both of them reached their destination, Naruto initiated a conversation with Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, why don't you put your chuunin vest on? You worked hard to earn it. I'm sure it would look good on you." Hinata agreed with him and decided to wear it. She chose to wear the vest the same way Naruto wore his. Hinata took off her jacket and put her chuunin vest on top of her black shirt. While she was doing so, Naruto couldn't help but notice just how good Hinata looked without her oversized jacket.

_'Wow… She looks even more beautiful without her jacket…'_ Naruto blushed when he realized what he was thinking. Hinata noticed this and was wondering what he was thinking. Eventually, Naruto saw that she put her jacket back on. He cleared his thoughts and focused on the matter at hand.

"Alright Hinata-chan, let's start. Ever since I started training you, all that I have taught you were water techniques. Now that you are officially my apprentice, I can teach you other jutsus." Hinata didn't care what he was teaching her. As long as she can spend more time with her Naruto-kun and get better in the process, she'll do it. Although, she was wondering what he was going to teach her this time.

"What will we be doing next, Naruto-kun?" Naruto just looked at her as he bit his thumb and made the handseals required for one of his favorite techniques.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." A poof of smoke later, a fox was summoned. The fox was holding a scroll on its mouth. Naruto took the scroll from the fox and unrolled it in front of Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, this is the summoning contract for foxes. I will be teaching you how to summon them either for transport or for battle. First, you need to sign your name here using your blood." Hinata bit her thumb just like how Naruto did earlier and signed her name on the contract. Naruto then rolled the scroll up and gave it to the fox, which disappeared after taking the scroll.

"Ok, now I'll teach you the handseals and how to mold chakra for this technique…" Naruto noticed two distinct chakra signatures and threw shuriken at where he felt them. The two hidden ninja avoided the shuriken and decided to make their presence known.

"Hello Naruto-kun. Or should I call you, Arashi-kun?" Itachi spoke in a calm manner, keeping himself composed. The same could not be said for his companion, who was itching to grab his sword.

"I know you're Uchiha Itachi, and your companion is Hoshigaki Kisame. What are you two doing here in Konoha?" Hinata and all the genin hiding in the trees gasped when they found out who the two were. One of them was already losing control.

"We've come to acquire the nine-tails inside you. Our organization, the Akatsuki, requires it." As soon as Naruto heard this, he stood in front of Hinata, protecting her from the S-class missing-nin. Kisame could not take it anymore and drew his Samehada. He quickly ran towards Naruto, who stood in a defensive position. He then spoke to Hinata.

"Don't interfere. You'll get killed if you do. This goes for all of you in the trees as well." Hinata jumped back, away from Naruto as he was currently in a fight against the blue-faced shinobi. The other genin made their way towards where Hinata was, just in case they needed to protect each other from possible attacks. Sasuke however, moved closer for other reasons.

"Itachi, I've waited a long time to finally kill you." Sasuke charged up his Chidori and ran towards his older brother, intending to end the life of the one responsible for his losses. Itachi merely avoided the thrust as he grabbed Sasuke's arm and twisted it hard, breaking it in the process. The younger Uchiha screamed in pain.

"Foolish little brother. You still lack the hate necessary to be able to defeat me." Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and looked at Sasuke. He noticed that his brother was trying to avoid looking at his eyes. Itachi grabbed Sasuke's head and forced him to look at his eyes.

"Tsukiyomi." Just like that, Sasuke was once again pulled into the powerful genjutsu. He was kneeling at the ground in the Uchiha district. He then heard Itachi's voice speak from behind him.

"You will relive that day, for a day." Sasuke couldn't do anything as he watched his brother slaughter the clan once more.

Back in the real world, it only took a second as Sasuke collasped to the ground, unconscious. The genjutsu took almost everything out of the younger Uchiha. Naruto noticed this and shouted to his friends.

"Go get the hokage, now!" Because Lee was the fastest out of all of them, he was the one who ran to the hokage tower, knowing just how much danger everyone was in. Itachi didn't mind this as he engaged Naruto in combat, intending to finish his task immediately. Kisame wasn't helping much as he was thrown into one of the trees forcefully by the blond. As Naruto looked to his left at the other Uchiha, he realized how big of a mistake he just did.

* * *

Lee was quickly making his way to the hokage's office. Once he arrived, he saw the Third talking to Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai. All 5 of them looked at Lee, wondering what he was doing here.

"Naruto-san is in trouble, he's fighting Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi!" Realizing the situation, everyone quickly ran towards the training grounds where everything was taking place.

* * *

Itachi saw the small window of opportunity and caught Naruto in the Tsukiyomi as well. In the world of the genjutsu, Naruto was tied to a cross as Itachi stood with a katana behind Naruto's friends.

"For the next 72 hours, you will watch me…" Itachi didn't finish his sentence as he was interrupted by a particular fox.

**"Do absolutely nothing."** The Kyuubi appeared and lunged towards Itachi. The Uchiha had no choice but to run from the fox. The situation was certainly ironic; Itachi was running away from what he was after. The next 72 hours were pure hell for the Uchiha.

In the real world, it was Itachi who collapsed to the ground instead of Naruto. Unlike his brother, Itachi was still conscious. Slowly, he got up and saw Sarutobi arrive along with the jounin instructors of everyone present.

"Kisame, we're leaving. It seems that he has found a way to counter my Tsukiyomi, not to mention our new guests." The shark man grumbled as he picked up his Samehada. Together, both of them disappeared. As soon as it was over, Naruto fell to the ground, exhausted from fighting two S-class ninja.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata ran towards the object of her affection in complete worry. When she saw that he was only tired, Hinata sighed in relief and helped Naruto up.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, just tired. Sarutobi, I'll tell you everything later. I need to go home and rest for a bit." After hearing that, everyone went home except for Sasuke, who was unconscious and was being carried to the hospital by Kakashi, and Hinata, who wanted to be with Naruto and went with him to his home.

* * *

(Hokage tower, Naruto's room)

Naruto was lying down on his bed with Hinata beside him. While Naruto was resting, the Hyuuga heiress was playing with his golden locks of hair. He didn't seem to mind at all, he loved the attention he was getting from her. When Naruto motioned to get up, Hinata pulled him back down and wrapped her arm around him, preventing him from leaving. The blond just looked at her, wondering why she did that.

"Just a few more minutes, Naruto-kun. Please?" He couldn't resist when she asked him that, and did as she said. After the additional minutes were up, he once again tried to get up. He was successful this time as he felt something on his hand. It was Hinata's hand; she clearly wanted to go with him. Hand in hand, the happy couple walked to the hokage's office.

When they reached their destination, they saw the Sandaime with a serious look on his face. Having two S-class criminals enter the village undetected will make anyone worry. The old man wanted to know what Itachi and Kisame were doing in the village. Motioning for the two guests to sit down, the hokage started the conversation.

"Arashi, I'm glad you're alright. Now, can you please explain to me what happened earlier?" The blond then explained the details of the event that occurred just minutes ago.

"Well, Hinata-chan and I went to the training grounds to teach her how to summon foxes. As soon as she signed the contract, I sensed Itachi and Kisame spying on us. I threw shuriken at the area where they were and then they made their presence known to everyone present, including the other genin who were following us. Itachi then told me that they were part of an organization called Akatsuki. He said that they require the Kyuubi inside me." Arashi took a short breath, and then continued explaining.

"Kisame then attacked me while I fought back. Sasuke then performed the Chidori and tried to kill Itachi. Itachi broke Sasuke's arm and put him in a powerful genjutsu. Once I saw Sasuke fall, I told the genin to call you while I held them off. Itachi put me in the Tsukiyomi as well, but Kyuubi attacked him while I was under the genjutsu. After Itachi fell to the ground, you arrived along with the other jounin. You know everything from there." Sarutobi just frowned upon hearing all of this.

"I see. I'll have some ANBU investigate this matter. We cannot allow this group to obtain the Kyuubi." Sarutobi then remembered that he had a certain mission for Arashi. Now was a good time to tell him. "While you're here, I have a mission for you."

"A mission? What is it about?"

"Old age has caught up with me. I feel that I'm too old to be hokage. Therefore, I'm sending you on a mission to find Tsunade. I'm going to ask her to take over as hokage, unless you want the position back…" Naruto was quick to reply.

"I want it back, but not now. I feel that I'm too young to become hokage, even though I'm old enough mentally. I'll do the mission if Hinata-chan can come with me." Hinata smiled at hearing this from him. Sarutobi noticed this and allowed it.

"She can come with you. However, since we have new problems with the Akatsuki and because Tsunade doesn't know about your secrets yet, Jiraiya will be coming with you. If there's nothing else, you're free to go." Naruto had a question before he left.

"Sarutobi, now that everyone in Konoha knows who I am, can I move back into the clan estate? I miss living there already." The old man wasn't surprised at hearing this. He actually expected that question sooner or later.

"That's fine. I'll ask Kakashi to move your things there." Naruto smiled at hearing this and left the hokage tower with Hinata. Together, they made their way to Ichiraku Ramen to eat dinner before they had to go home and pack for tomorrow's mission.

* * *

(Ichiraku Ramen)

Naruto and Hinata arrived at the ramen stand and took their seats. As soon as Teuchi saw them, he greeted the two with a grin that both ninja noticed right away.

"So it has been you all along, Yondaime-sama. I should have realized your obsession for ramen was unparalleled. What will you and your girlfriend here have today?" Naruto ordered the usual while Hinata ordered a bowl of miso ramen. The old man then went to the back to prepare their orders, or at least part of it anyway in Naruto's case. Naruto took this opportunity to talk to Hinata.

"So Hinata-chan, how do you feel about the mission we have tomorrow?" The young Hyuuga just looked at him with a smile and answered his question truthfully.

"I really don't mind what mission I go to, as long as you're with me on it." Both of them smiled at each other as their orders arrived. The two ate their ramen and continued their conversation.

"During the mission, I'll be teaching you Kuchiyose no Jutsu. I'm sure you'll have it down by the time we get back." Hinata nodded as she was halfway finished with her bowl, while Naruto was already on his fourth. After a few minutes, the two finished their meals. Naruto paid for both of them and the two went to their respective homes to pack for the mission.

* * *

(The next day; gates of Konoha)

Naruto and Hinata were waiting for their other companion during the mission, Jiraiya. While they were waiting, Naruto took a head start in Hinata's training as she already had the handseals for the technique perfected. A few minutes after that, Jiraiya arrived and greeted the two. Naruto then remembered just how perverted the toad sannin was and gave him a warning.

"Jiraiya, if you ever look at Hinata-chan in a perverted way, you'll be returning from this mission missing a few limbs. Is that understood?" Jiraiya gulped at his old student's warning, but then he remembered the mission objective and smiled.

"I won't look at her like that. I'll be satisfied by looking at Tsunade-hime." His smile became a lecherous grin as Naruto just sighed. The group then walked out of Konoha in search of the legendary slug sannin.

* * *

Hello everyone. Here is the next chapter, although it can't keep up with the tempo of the previous ones. This chapter was meant to be a break from all of the fights that occurred in the chuunin exam arc. The next chapter will have some action, so don't worry.

_For everyone asking about what happened in manga chapter 355_ – Here you go.

**SPOILERS**

Naruto was teamed up with Hinata and Yamato during the search for Itachi and Sasuke.

**END SPOILERS**

_vnvanman_ – If you have seen chapter 356, that probably won't happen. Naruto (and Yamato, but Naruto is the important one here) won't let Hinata die. If she dies, there will be a loud scream around the world from every single Hinata fan. Trust me; there are a lot of them, way more than Asuma fans and Chiyo fans. Besides, I already suspect NaruHina to be canon. Read the ship manifesto to find out why. The link is in my profile.

_Tashio_ – He probably had one, but in this story, he didn't. Although, I like your idea of all the Yondaime fangirls being a test on their relationship. I might use it in the future, if it's alright with you…

_the DragonBard_ – I don't have any plans of making Arashi learn new techniques, except for the Fuuton: Rasengan that he originally planned in canon.

_AkumaRule_ – Yes, Kyuubi is mainly fire elemental. He could not use a fire technique though; he was battling in a forest. Nobody wants a fire to break out during a war.

_Yondy_ – I can't see the link in the review. Maybe you could pm it to me? I guess you're correct, if you really spend your free time researching jutsu. :P

* * *

**Jutsu List** (Thanks to Wikipedia for the explanations)

_Chidori_ – One Thousand Birds. This jutsu channels a large amount of chakra into the user's arm. The amount of chakra is so great that it becomes visible to the naked eye. The technique actually alters the nature of the user's chakra, effectively converting it into electricity. As a side effect of the conversion process, the large amount of chakra, and the speed at which the user moves, this technique makes a loud noise similar to many birds chirping, hence the name. Once the technique is completed, the user charges forward and stabs their enemy with it.

_Tsukiyomi_ – Moon Reader. Upon making eye contact with an opponent, Itachi can use Tsukiyomi to transport them to an illusionary world where days amount to mere seconds in the real world. Because Itachi is in control of this world, he can torture an opponent in any way imaginable, leaving them crippled and in a state of mental collapse.

* * *

Chapter 356 of the manga throws another wrench in the cogwheels of the plot. Go read it if you want to know what I mean.

Here's the preview for the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

_In the battlefield, Naruto stood on top of Kyuubi's head, staring at Orochimaru, who stood on top of Manda's head. Jiraiya was battling Kabuto a fair distance away from the two, while Tsunade, Shizune, and Hinata were just watching the events pass by._

_Orochimaru decided to face his fears and fight, but his summon was starting to have second thoughts._


	10. New Bets, Same Results

**A Hero Reborn**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Text" – speaking

'_Text'_ – thinking

**"Text"** – Kyuubi speaking, Manda speaking

**_'Text'_** – Kyuubi thinking, Manda thinking

* * *

**Chapter Nine: New Bets, Same Results**

Naruto, Hinata, and Jiraiya arrived at their first stop in searching for the slug sannin, Tsunade. There was a fair in the city, which everyone was happy to see. As soon as all three of them checked in a decent hotel, Jiraiya asked his student a question.

"Arashi, I'm going to need to borrow some money to help with the search…" The blond knew where this was going and stopped the toad sannin in the middle of his sentence.

"No way Jiraiya-sensei, you're going to spend it on sake and loose women again, like last time! I'm not giving you my money; it's your fault you didn't bring your own money to spend." Jiraiya attempted a comeback in hopes of getting some money for women.

"It's not like you're spending it here anyway. Come on, even just enough for a couple…"

"I'm spending my money here for Hinata-chan, not for you. We're going to enjoy the fair while we're here." The Hyuuga heiress blushed at hearing that her Naruto-kun was going to take her around the fair. The two young shinobi turned around to leave the hotel, but Jiraiya dropped to his knees and took Naruto's feet in his arms.

"Arashi, please, I need some money! I can't go on without at least some sake! And maybe a couple of…" Naruto didn't want to hear anymore. He dropped a few bills on the floor.

"Fine, fine, just leave us alone while we're here!" Naruto took Hinata by the hand and left the hotel, leaving the perverted sannin to quickly grab the money he received and counted it.

_'Wow! This is enough for maybe five women and three days worth of sake! It was worth dropping to my knees in front of my student and his girl.'_

* * *

Naruto and Hinata walked around the town, exploring everything the fair had to offer. They took their time checking out the various game booths and selling stalls. Eventually, they found a booth where a man offered to take pictures of people. 

"Hey Hinata-chan, let's have a couple of pictures taken." The female chuunin looked at her jounin boyfriend and replied.

"That's a great idea Naruto-kun. Let's do it." The young couple walked to the booth and greeted the two men in charge. One of them noticed the two coming over.

"Hello. What can I do for you today?" The man seemed nice and was friendly. Naruto told him what he wanted.

"We want a couple of pictures taken, two copies of each." The man nodded and told his partner to look over the booth. He then guided the two shinobi to where he will take their pictures. After a while, they made it to a garden with a nice house behind it. The man pulled the camera out of his utility bag and told Naruto and Hinata to get ready for the first shot.

"Do as I do, Hinata-chan. I'm sure it'll look good in the picture." Hinata nodded as Naruto took his left arm and put it around Hinata's neck area. She did the same thing to him with her right arm. The two then smiled for the camera as the man took the first shot. The picture was then printed out of the camera and shown to the couple.

"You were right Naruto-kun, it does look good." The photographer nodded and made a copy of the picture and gave it to Naruto. He then told them to get ready for the second and final shot. Naruto whispered something to Hinata which made her blush. She nodded, indicating that she agreed with what Naruto planned.

"Get ready in three… two… one…" As soon as the photographer said 'one', Naruto and Hinata hugged each other and moved closer. Wanting to see what the couple had planned, the man held off the shot until the two were still.

Naruto and Hinata continued to move closer as their lips touched each other. Their kiss was light and innocent, perfect for an everlasting picture. The man smiled and took the last shot and immediately made a second copy, knowing that the two will be satisfied with the results. After hearing the click, Naruto pulled away and smiled at his girlfriend. Hinata returned the smile as she too pulled away. They took the pictures and blushed at how romantic they were in it. The two kept a copy of each picture in their respective wallets. Naruto took out enough money to pay the man and give him extra for doing a good job. The man thanked the couple as he walked back to his stand. As soon as he did, both Naruto and Hinata heard a rumbling sound, but then they realized that it was their own stomachs, demanding some food. The two blushed and giggled at how funny the situation just became.

"Let's get something to eat, Hinata-chan."

"Hai Naruto-kun."

* * *

Naruto and Hinata arrived at one of the restaurants in the village. The two took their seats and called for a waiter. After looking at the menu to see what the place had to offer, Hinata already knew what she wanted to eat. However, the same couldn't be said for Naruto; there was no ramen on the menu. 

"I'll have an order of cinnamon rolls. What about you, Naruto-kun?" The blond couldn't decide on what to eat, so he ordered the same thing, thinking that it had to taste good if Hinata liked it.

"The same please." The waiter took their orders and left, leaving the couple alone once again. Hinata took the initiative and started a conversation.

"Naruto-kun, is there a reason why you ordered cinnamon rolls?"

"There was no ramen, so I ordered the same thing. I figured that it had to be good if you like it. Besides, the two of us have been eating my favorite food back in Konoha, so it's time we ate your favorite." This comment earned a smile from his pale girlfriend, which he returned. The waiter then arrived with their orders along with a couple of glasses of water. The two then began to eat.

"Wow, this is good! Now I know why you like it so much!" After Naruto had taken his first bite of cinnamon rolls in his life, he immediately liked the taste of it. To him, it was almost comparable to ramen. He liked the taste so much that he ordered two more for take-out. Hinata smiled at knowing that Naruto also liked her favorite food. During the middle of their meal, Naruto started another conversation.

"Hinata-chan, we're going to resume your training on summoning tomorrow. When we're done eating, we're going back to the hotel to get an early rest." Hinata nodded to show her agreement. A few minutes later, the two were finished eating. Naruto paid for their meals and left the restaurant along with Hinata.

* * *

Along the way to the hotel, the two spotted Jiraiya in an alley, unconscious. He had a bottle of sake in his right hand, which meant that he was drunk. He also had a piece of paper on his left hand. Naruto took the paper and saw that it was a membership certificate to a specific brothel in the town. It had four stamps on it, indicating that Jiraiya was busy with some women the entire time. 

"I knew I shouldn't have given him money." Hinata silently agreed with him. She didn't expect this behavior from one of the legendary sannin. If Orochimaru was a traitor and Jiraiya was a pervert, she didn't want to know what Tsunade was.

"What will we do with him, Naruto-kun?" The blond already knew what to do.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan; I'm used to this already. It happened all the time when he was training me before." Naruto made a few handseals and bit his thumb.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." A puff of smoke later, a medium-sized toad appeared. The toad looked to his left when Naruto pointed in that direction. The toad just sighed at seeing Jiraiya drunk again. This toad was the one always summoned whenever the perverted sannin was either drunk or unconscious. The toad shot out its tongue and put Jiraiya on top of itself. The group then walked back to the hotel room.

* * *

After arriving at their hotel room, the toad dumped Jiraiya on the floor and left. Naruto didn't even bother putting the sannin on one of the beds in the room. He deserved it for getting drunk again and on an important mission no less. Hinata went to the bathroom to change into her lavender nightgown as Naruto changed into his sleeping attire in the main room. Naruto then lied down on the bed and closed his eyes. They were opened once again when he felt Hinata lie down next to him on the same bed and wrapped one of her arms around him. 

"H-Hinata-chan… What are you doing?"

"I want to sleep with you Naruto-kun." Naruto blushed hard when he heard these words come out of her mouth. Hinata then realized what she said and blushed hard as well. She tried to repair the situation, but it only got worse.

"W-wait! I didn't m-mean it t-that way! Well, actually I did… N-no! W-what am I s-saying!?" Hinata was blushing even harder at this point. Naruto, wanting to save his girlfriend from embarrassment, wrapped an arm around her just like she did earlier.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I know what you mean." Hinata calmed down as her blush faded away slowly. The two were now lying down on the bed next to each other with an arm wrapped around the other.

"Good night, Hinata-chan. I love you." Naruto gave Hinata another short but sweet kiss on the lips. When they parted, Hinata was looking at Naruto with a smile.

"Good night, Naruto-kun. I love you too." Naruto returned the smile as Hinata closed her eyes and went to sleep. Naruto had one last thought before he did the same.

_'I want it that way too… Maybe in the future, when we're ready…'_

_

* * *

_

(Next day)

Naruto woke up to the harsh glare of the sun in his face. He was enjoying the time he spent sleeping next to Hinata, but the sun had to ruin another one of his happy moments. He saw a piece of paper on one of the tables and moved closer to look at it. He realized that it was a letter and read it.

_Lovebirds,_

_I found out where Tsunade is. Meet me at the north entrance of the village at 9 am._

_Jiraiya_

Naruto checked the time only to see that it was already 8:30. Realizing that they had to get ready quickly, he went back to the bed and tried to wake his girlfriend up.

"Hinata-chan, wake up. We need to go." His words didn't do the job, so he tried again, this time with a few nudges.

"Hinata-chan, we need to go, now." He received a response, but it wasn't the one he was looking for, even though he liked it.

"Mmm… Naruto-kun…" Realizing that he had to wake her up soon, he resorted to his last measure. He wanted to do it anyway, so why not now? Moving his head downward towards her face, Naruto gave Hinata a full kiss on the lips. This woke up the surprised Hyuuga heiress. Naruto knew she woke up when she returned the kiss. They parted after a few seconds.

"Hinata-chan, we need to go. Get dressed, we're leaving." Nodding, Hinata took her clothes and went to the bathroom to change and freshen up quickly. Naruto also changed into his usual attire. When they were both done, the two ran towards the north entrance, where Jiraiya was waiting. They made it just in time.

"Tsunade's in the next city. We need to move quickly before she leaves. Let's go." The three then left the village and ran to the next, where they hope they will find the slug sannin.

* * *

The group arrived at the next city, only taking a day. They stopped running when they reached the city gates. Naruto told Hinata to activate her bloodline limit to make the search go faster. 

"Byakugan!" As soon as she activated her bloodline, the three walked in a normal pace around the city. It only took a few minutes before Hinata spotted Tsunade.

"She's in that bar over there." They went inside and sat at the same table Tsunade was in. The slug sannin only noticed the group when they sat down. She was too distracted in her own thoughts. A woman holding a pig who was with Tsunade also looked surprised at the arrival of Jiraiya and two ninja she didn't know.

"Jiraiya… What are you doing here? I'm meeting old friends by the hour." Jiraiya frowned upon hearing this.

"Orochimaru? What did he want?" The mention of the traitor being in the area made Naruto's blood boil. His eyes were turning red; no doubt the product of not only his anger, but also the Kyuubi's. He was flaring chakra at an alarming rate. Hinata noticed this and stopped him with an embrace and a few soothing words. She succeeded in calming him down.

"Nothing much, we just said hello. Who are these two kids you brought along?"

"This is my student, Arashi. I'm sure you know him already. She is Hyuuga Hinata, his girl." Both Tsunade and Shizune were shocked. Did he just say that this man was Arashi, his student, the fourth hokage? They had to confirm this.

"Arashi, as in the Yondaime Hokage? But he died 12 years ago!" Everyone in the bar heard what Tsunade said and looked at the group with faces of confusion. Naruto noticed this and decided to get away from everyone.

"Yes, that's me. We'd better leave, there are a lot of people listening and looking at us right now." Nodding slowly, Tsunade and Shizune paid for their drinks. The group then left, heading towards the hotel where Tsunade was staying. Upon arriving at the hotel, Tsunade was immediately asking Naruto some questions.

"If you're really the Yondaime, prove it." Naruto created a kage bunshin and had it use henge to transform into his old appearance before the Kyuubi incident. The similarities were abundant; there was no more doubt in Tsunade's mind that he was telling the truth. Naruto dispelled the clone after a while.

"Remember when Kyuubi attacked and I sealed him inside me, leading to our deaths?" Both Tsunade and Shizune nodded. "During the process, Kyuubi turned me into a child to save both of our lives. He did that to make sure that he kills the person responsible for the death of his family, as well as the one who started the attack in the first place. That person is Orochimaru." Before Tsunade could say anything, Jiraiya spoke up, informing the two about the reason they were sent here.

"Tsunade, we're here to ask you to become the Godaime Hokage. Sarutobi-sensei is retiring soon." The slug sannin was quick to reply.

"I decline. I promised myself that I would never set foot in that village again, and I intend on keeping my word." Naruto wasn't going to accept that for an answer and resorted to the one thing that Tsunade would never back down from.

"How about we bet on it, Tsunade?" Tsunade was intrigued at his offer.

"Go on."

"I bet that I can teach Hinata-chan a jounin-level jutsu in a week. If I win, you come back to Konoha and accept the role of Hokage. If you win, we'll leave you alone forever and you never have to return to the village if you don't want to."

Tsunade was thinking about the possible outcomes of the bet. Even if this man was indeed the Yondaime, he was still teaching a 12 year old freshly promoted chuunin. There was no way that the Hyuuga could learn a jounin-level technique in a week. She then made her decision.

"I accept. Let's go, Shizune." With that, Tsunade, Shizune, and TonTon left the hotel to go somewhere. Jiraiya followed them, out of money for women.

"Are you sure you should have done that, Naruto-kun? What if you lose the bet?" Naruto just laughed upon hearing this from Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, don't worry. Tsunade isn't called the Legendary Sucker for nothing. Let's go continue your progress on Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Together, the two left the hotel to find somewhere to train on.

* * *

Four days had passed since the bet was finalized. Hinata was slowly learning how to summon foxes. Even though it took longer than usual, Naruto was sure that she would learn this before the deadline of the bet. Naruto saw Hinata having trouble with the jutsu and moved to help her with it. 

"Hinata-chan, focus on summoning a fox. Don't focus on your chakra alone." Hinata nodded as she got back to training. Naruto couldn't help but smile at how hard she was working. He made sure to show how proud he was of her later on.

_'At this rate, I'll have to teach Hinata-chan the Rasengan sooner than I thought... I'll work on adding the elemental properties when that time comes.'_

* * *

Another two days had passed. Hinata had mastered the jutsu, but was sleeping from overexhaustion. Naruto was with her all the time, only leaving her alone for bathroom breaks. He had already changed into his sleeping attire during his last bathroom break. While Hinata was sleeping, Naruto took the opportunity to appreciate everything about her. He recalled every moment they spent together before they admitted their feelings for each other. 

He remembered how they first met at the training grounds back then when he was four. He remembered everything; how she blushed and stuttered all the time, and how she looked after him while he was sleeping.

He remembered his 'second' first day at the academy. Hinata was the only one he knew, and the two spent as much time together as possible. He remembered how he realized how Hinata truly felt about him; and how she admitted that she liked him.

He remembered their days as team 8. Every mission they went on, every moment the two of them were together, either just passing time or training. He specifically remembered the mission to Wave and how Hinata had been the one to stop him from killing Haku with his Rasengan. It was too bad that both Haku and Zabuza had to die, but that was the life of a shinobi.

He remembered every single moment when he was teaching her various suiton jutsus. How she would practice and train hard to make sure that she mastered the technique while exceeding his expectations.

He remembered the one month break before the chuunin exam finals. How they were training, preparing to face each other in the first round of the finals. He especially remembered their first kiss and how they admitted their love to each other.

The two have been inseparable ever since.

Naruto remembered everything that he did with Hinata. Both of them would feel happy when they were with each other. Both of them would feel complete as long as they were together.

_'She is the right woman for me. No one else compares to her. This might be a bit too soon, but I'm thinking about asking her to marry me when we're of legal age.'_

_**'Thinking about marriage already, Arashi? Well, both of you are perfect for each other. I'm sure she'll agree with marriage, but don't ask her just yet.'**_

_'Why not?'_

_**'Both of you are too young for such a strong commitment. Even if you're old enough mentally, think about her and what she'll go through.'**_

_'You're right. I'll hold it off until I think she's ready.'_

_**'She's waking up. It's best if you let her rest until tomorrow.'**_

_'Good idea. Thanks Kyuubi.'_

As the fox said, Hinata was waking up. She stirred, trying to grasp her surroundings. She saw a brilliant shade of blond and immediately smiled knowing what that meant. She tried to get up, but Naruto's hand was preventing her from doing so.

"Stay in bed, Hinata-chan. You need your rest." The Hyuuga nodded, but she added something else.

"Only if you stay in bed with me, Naruto-kun." A smile was immediately followed by some movement as Naruto lied down next to Hinata on the bed. The two then wrapped an arm around each other as both of them had a short kiss and slept.

A few minutes after the couple slept, Tsunade walked in the room. She immediately took notice of the position both Naruto and Hinata were in. She smiled at them before getting to her own bed and preparing for tomorrow's events.

* * *

(The next day) 

Naruto woke up only to see that Hinata was the only one in the room with him. He was wondering where Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune were. Hinata woke up when she sensed her Naruto-kun move. She too noticed the lack of people in the room.

"Naruto-kun, where are the others?" He too wanted to know the answer to that question.

"I don't know. Get dressed, we're looking for them." As soon as the two were in presentable form, they went out of the hotel. Hinata activated her Byakugan to search for any traces of chakra that they had left. What she saw shocked her.

"Naruto-kun, they are fighting Orochimaru on the outskirts of the city." Naruto was in full attention at this point. This was another chance to kill the snake bastard. Kyuubi was in full attention as well, knowing that this might be the day his revenge is fulfilled.

"Hinata-chan, do you still have the kunai I gave you back then?" The Hyuuga pulled it out of her kunai pouch and showed it to Naruto. "Great, hold it and don't let go of it. Let's go."

The couple quickly ran to the battlefield, knowing that the rest of the group was in danger.

* * *

(Outside the city) 

Orochimaru and his assistant Kabuto were currently enjoying the advantage they had over Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune. Right from the beginning of the battle, Orochimaru summoned a pool of blood around the area, rendering Tsunade useless due to her hemophobia. Kabuto quickly dealt with Shizune, while Orochimaru was having fun at slowly beating Jiraiya. The snake sannin said a few words to Tsunade.

"You should have just accepted my offer, Tsunade. This wouldn't have happened if you did."

"I'm never joining your pathetic village after I heard the truth about the attack all those years ago!" Orochimaru was curious as to where she found out. From Jiraiya perhaps?

"If that's the case, then you're going to die right now. You should thank me for reuniting you with your loved ones, Dan and Nawaki." Before the snake sannin could launch an attack, there were a couple of new arrivals at the battle, one of which Orochimaru wasn't very happy to see.

"Arashi-kun, glad you could join us." Deep inside, the snake sannin was scared for his life. The only person that could end his existence just arrived at the battle. Orochimaru then decided to fight, knowing that he would never regain the courage to do so if he ran away.

"I'm never glad to see you, Orochimaru. I'm going to kill you, right here and now." Naruto scanned his surroundings only to see that both Jiraiya and Kabuto were tired. Shizune was limping back to where Tsunade was, grouping the people who couldn't fight anymore together. He quickly formulated a plan in his head.

"Jiraiya, go fight the bastard's apprentice over there. Hinata-chan, please guard Tsunade and Shizune. I'll take care of Orochimaru." The ones addressed obeyed his command as the blond was getting ready to verse the traitorous sannin.

Orochimaru was no slouch either. He knew that he was tired from fighting Jiraiya earlier. He couldn't keep up with the Yondaime in his state. Biting his thumb and making the required handseals, the snake sannin called forth his most powerful summon, hoping that it would ensure his victory. Naruto saw the seals he was making and he quickly made the same set. Both of them simultaneously slammed their palms on the ground and applied a lot of chakra.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." The area was covered in a large amount of smoke, no doubt coming from the newly summoned beings. The smoke dispersed after a few seconds.

In the battlefield, Naruto stood on top of Kyuubi's head, staring at Orochimaru, who stood on top of Manda's head. Jiraiya was battling Kabuto a fair distance away from the two, while Tsunade, Shizune, and Hinata were just watching the events pass by.

Orochimaru decided to face his fears and fight, but his summon was starting to have second thoughts.

**"Orochimaru, I asked for more challenging opponents, but I did not mean the damn nine tails! You're on your own this time."** This infuriated the sannin even more. He angrily stomped on the head of his snake.

"You worthless snake! I summoned you here to fight, not to run away!" The great Manda didn't like being stomped on and being called worthless. He decided to get back at the sannin by tossing him using his head. Orochimaru landed just in front of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Manda had a few last words before getting back to his realm.

**"The next time you summon me, I'm going to devour you whole."** With that, the snake disappeared, leaving a very frightened sannin in front of his worst fear. Kyuubi just licked his teeth and showed off a grin that meant death.

**"Nowhere to run now, you damn bastard. I'm going to enjoy tearing your flesh apart!"** The fox lunged forward at the snake sannin. Orochimaru, valuing his life over everything else, used shunshin after shunshin to try to escape the situation. Unfortunately for him, each shunshin he used was merely equivalent to one leap of the fox. Orochimaru was running out of chakra. He took a quick look at the area, searching for something, anything that would help him escape. His eyes saw the Hyuuga guarding Tsunade and her assistant.

_'There's my chance to get away.'_

Orochimaru summoned his sword, Kusanagi, and sent it flying at the Hyuuga heiress. Hinata could only look in shock at the blade heading her way. She couldn't move out of the way. Naruto saw the danger of the situation and immediately moved to save his girl.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu!" Naruto used his most powerful technique to appear in front of Hinata and take the hit for her. Her eyes widened when she saw the sword stab her Naruto-kun in the back. His eyes showed pain, but the overwhelming desire to protect the love of his life made the pain bearable. Naruto pulled out the sword and threw it at the ground. He once again screamed in pain, but he was not the only one hurting.

Kyuubi was also screaming in pain. His body was linked to Arashi's because of the seal, therefore any pain the blond felt would also be felt by the fox. Kyuubi fell down in pain and was slow to get back up. Knowing that Orochimaru was once again getting away, he let out a loud roar that could be heard miles away from the area. He slowly dispersed into red chakra and went back to the seal to help Arashi heal the stab wound.

Orochimaru got lucky, again. He immediately took the opportunity and recalled his sword. As soon as he did, he vanished into nothingness, escaping death once again.

Naruto turned around and no longer saw the snake sannin in sight. His eyes became red and slitted in anger. He needed to vent it out before he did anything that he would regret. Naruto looked around for something to release his anger on. His eyes widened and he grinned at what he saw.

Kabuto was still there.

Naruto made a Rasengan in his hand and quickly ran towards the silver-haired spy. After all, he did promise to kill him at sight, and here was his chance. Kabuto was too busy trying to fend off Jiraiya's attacks. He didn't see the Yondaime coming at him with force. When he recognized the blond and the sphere of chakra on his hand, it was too late.

Naruto shoved the sphere of chakra roughly into Kabuto's body as the Rasengan slowly grinded through his body. The force of the technique was too much for the silver-haired ninja to handle. The Rasengan tore through his internal organs as he fell to the ground, lifeless. Naruto turned back to normal after he made the kill.

"We're done here. Let's go back to the hotel and rest up." Everyone else just looked at him with widened eyes and nodded slowly. They were still able to walk back to the hotel after the day's events.

* * *

(Hotel room) 

Everyone arrived at the hotel in relative peace. Those who were tired immediately went to bed and lied down to rest. Naruto then remembered the bet he had with the Legendary Sucker and reminded her of the terms of it.

"It's the deadline for the bet. I'm sure you remember the conditions of it." Tsunade nodded and waited for the outcome. Naruto told Hinata to come closer and perform the technique. Hinata bit her thumb and made the handseals required.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A puff of smoke later, a medium-sized fox appeared. Hinata nodded at the fox and it disappeared and went back to where it came from. Naruto hugged Hinata and congratulated her for doing a great job. He then let go and looked at Tsunade, who only had her mouth wide open at what she saw.

"I win the bet, Tsunade. You have to hold your end of the deal and become Godaime Hokage." Tsunade was smirking this time, leaving Naruto to question her motives.

"I would have gone back anyway after I heard what Orochimaru did. That makes our bet worthless." It was Naruto's turn to smirk, and Tsunade's turn to question his motives.

"It wasn't worthless. Hinata-chan is getting better everyday. In a few years time, she'll be one of the strongest in the village." Hinata was blushing at his words. She looked at him and asked a question.

"Naruto-kun, do you really think I'll be that strong?" The blond simply looked at her and smiled.

"Of course Hinata-chan. You'll be one of the best in the village soon enough, even better than both the pervert and the old woman." Hinata knew who the pervert was, but she didn't know about the old woman.

"Old woman?" Tsunade was almost seething right now. The slug sannin moved closer in an attempt to hit the Yondaime, but his next words stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Don't make me drop your genjutsu, Tsunade." Tsunade reluctantly stopped and went back to bed to rest up and prepare for the trip back. She valued her youthful appearance just as much as Orochimaru valued his life and Jiraiya valued women. Hinata was amazed at how much power a simple threat had over a sannin like Tsunade. She was naturally curious about it, and asked her boyfriend.

"Genjutsu?"

"Tsunade uses a powerful henge to make her look like she's twenty, when she's actually fifty." Naruto then lied down on his bed and motioned Hinata to lie down next to him. She happily did and the two enjoyed being next to each other. For the rest of the day, both Naruto and Hinata traded stories and held each other lovingly until night has passed and sleep has consumed them.

* * *

(Konoha, a few days later) 

The village was in celebration as their next Hokage was introduced in front of them. All of them rejoiced at the return of Tsunade, the legendary slug sannin. After giving her acceptance speech in front of the entire village, Tsunade walked back to her new office wanting to start her job on a good note. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't possible for any newly crowned kage.

Tsunade arrived at her office only to see a grinning Naruto and a smiling Hinata with him. Both of them congratulated her for her new position in the village. Naruto had something to add that would make any kage weep in despair. He knew that from personal experience, so it wasn't an exaggeration.

"Tsunade, meet your worst enemy as Hokage of Konoha." Just then, the previous hokage, Sarutobi, came into the room carrying a huge stack of papers. As if that wasn't enough, Tsunade's assistant, Shizune, also came into the room carrying her own stack of papers. TonTon added even more insult to injury as the pig used its mouth to bring a few more papers into Tsunade's new office. Needless to say, the slug sannin was almost crying at what she had to work on, and that was just today's stack.

"Don't worry Tsunade; you'll only have to wait a few more years before I take back my position. But after seeing just how much paperwork has to be done these days, I'm thinking of waiting a little longer than that." Naruto was now laughing at thinking how long Tsunade will be dealing with all the paperwork required. He didn't mind doing all of it; he had a few methods in mind to avoid the dreaded task. Tsunade wanted to get back at the blond, and she could do it seeing that she was Hokage.

"I'm giving you a D-rank mission tomorrow. Laugh at that, Arashi." Tsunade was about to laugh hard, but she stopped when she saw Naruto with a grin on his face.

"That's fine, more paperwork for you then." Naruto then left the room laughing as a giggling Hinata left the room with him.

* * *

Hello everyone. This chapter covers the entire Search for Tsunade arc. The next chapter will cover the short break and maybe the first half of the Sasuke Retrieval arc, so you can expect it to be full of action. 

_AkumaRule_ – It is true that Naruto isn't a reincarnation of the Yondaime; because he is the same person. However, it pretty much seems like a reincarnation when you experience your life all over again. Hinata thought of it because she originally thought that the Yondaime died during the battle 12 years ago. All of a sudden, Naruto shows up and a few years later, he reveals that he is the Yondaime all along. It seems like a reincarnation to me.

He will use the name 'Naruto' because it officially became his new name when the Third ordered it so back in chapter one. I can see him using his Kazama name, but he has gotten used to being called Naruto (especially Naruto-kun) a bit too much to go back to his old name of Arashi.

* * *

Nothing much for the **Jutsu List** today, every technique in this chapter had already been explained in the previous chapters.

* * *

Before I give out the chapter preview, I have a couple of important announcements regarding this story. 

First of all, I have school again starting on Wednesday, June 13. That means updates will appear weekly, most likely at Friday nights or weekends. Two weeks at the very most, but I doubt any chapter will take that long.

Next, I'm thinking about upping the rating of this story to 'M' in order to add in every author's favorite fruit. I want to try my hand at lemon scenes, but some of you might not want one in this story. Of course, you as the readers deserve to get what you want. So, I'm creating a poll that works a bit differently.

**POLL**

_Should I change the rating to 'M' and add a lemon?_

_YES_

_NO (Must compose 75 percent of the total number of votes or higher to take effect)_

If you choose yes, keep in mind that I already have a time and place for it; the three years training. I'm sure it's pretty obvious who will take part in it.

I would like to thank you in advance for taking part in this poll.

* * *

Here is the preview for the next chapter. Thanks for reading. 

"_I'm not training you, Sasuke. That is final." The Uchiha was angry at the blond. He deserved power more than anyone else, and someone that could give it to him outright denied him._

"_If you're not going to train me, then fight me. I want to measure my capacity."_


End file.
